Zootopia - Loves Blind
by OneWolfe
Summary: Officer Judy Hopps finally has the life she always wanted as a police officer with the perfect partner. However her growing personal relationship with Nick is putting a strain on her job that everyone else can see except them. Love can be so very blind at times.
1. Chapter 1 - Broken Doors

Chapter 1 - Broken Doors

A gentle breeze was blowing through the last few blossoms hanging onto the old apple tree. It was a warm wind that carried the still sweet smell of meadows full of tall grass, and fields of flowers in the spring, even though it was already turning into summer. The last of the pedals let go of their grasp on the branches that had held them for weeks and fell to the ground like so much popcorn in the yard.

The yard was well kept by an ardent hand. A ring of colorful flowers circled the apple tree in the front, and the surrounding grass was bright green and in need of a trim. Bulbous hedges lined the warm beige walls of the house like sharply dressed officers standing guard at each window.

The quiet little house was a simple, single story bungalow built for smaller mammal families like the other houses on this block. It had three quaint little picture windows along the front side and a large bay window positioned just so next to the tiny stoop. A short winding cobblestone path lead from the door down to the sidewalk at street level. This cozy domestic scene was bathed in bright flashing lights breaking its quaint, idyllic charm with the constant switching between warm red tones and cold blues.

Standing on the cobblestones was a light brown bobcat dressed in casual evening attire with a striped tie hanging loosely around his neck. He had his arms comfortingly wrapped around the shoulders of well dressed but thin beaver who was trying to contain her angry sobs. The paw he used to comfort her with had a fancy gold ring on one finger. She was dressed for a stylish evening out on the town in a bright flowery dress that showed off her shapely figure in all of the right places. A waterfall of tears streaked her face ruining the hours of hard work she had put in front of the vanity to look perfect for their date.

Only a few short feet from the couple sat the nose of one of the ZPD's large squad cars, the front driver side tire resting comfortably on the cobblestone path. The lights in the grill and on the roof flashed steadily, shedding their bright red and blue glow fiercely across the neighborhood, dispensing the mellow darkness of early evening. A small group of curious neighbors stood on the sidewalk near the police car trying to get a good look at what was going on, and gossiping about what might have happened.

"Yes Mr. Fisher we understand, sir. But I need you to tell me exactly what you saw after you came home," a large hippopotamus was explaining to the distraught couple. Sergeant Higgins was a well seasoned police mammal, who had developed a gruff attitude over the long years of service to the ZPD. His shift should have been over hours ago and his patience was wearing thin with the middle aged couple. The female beaver's angry outbursts and furious sobs kept interrupting his investigation. Every time she broke into tears her husband had to stop and console her for several minutes before she would calm down enough to let him answer the hippo's questions. Once she stopped crying long enough for the male bobcat to answer the next question, his description of the break in would set the beaver into a fit of rage, spewing curses like an old dock worker. The constant back and forth between tears and anger from the distraught couple meant Higgins had to ask each of his questions multiple times and that kept the interrogation going in circles.

Andersen, the large polar bear officer standing next to Higgins, only shook his head and walked towards the front door of the small house to take a closer look at the damages. He had to bend over and even get down on all fours to look through the tiny door that had been thoroughly smashed in by a large mammal or hit by some great force. It lay broken into several pieces right inside the foyer where it had fallen. The frame was also cracked and splintered in several places from the tremendous impact. Inside, the rest of the house was very dark and the large bear had to use a flashlight to make out anything of the tiny living space. It was a complete mess!

From his angle at the door the oversized officer could barely make out overturned and broken furniture scattered about inside the house. In the dark gloomy interior he could see a faint red light coming from behind one of the couch cushions, possibly the DVR or a cable box was still plugged in. The one floor lamp he could identify was smashed with the bulb broken, which was why it was so dark in the house. And could those cloth shreds in the corner have once been the lamp shade?

His huge body would never fit through the small four foot door, even now that it was smashed and laying on the floor of the foyer. He was just too massive to climb inside and assess the damages, so he turned back to Higgins and said, "I can't make anything out other than broken furniture, a few smashed lamps, and the strong smell of cheap beer and spicy salsa."

"Fine," the hippo sighed. "We still have to wait for those two new recruits to get here. Maybe they can figure out what all this mess is about. What's taking them so long anyways?"

"Taking their sweet time on the freeway as usual I suppose?"

"Naw, we're almost on the edge of the Meadowlands and they were on the other side of Tundra Town, dealing with another minor fender bender, when our call went through. However it's after nine and there isn't any traffic this late on the weekends. Where the heck are they?" He grumbled loudly and waited for the distraught beaver to calm down so he could begin questioning the couple again.

It was generally a quiet little neighborhood, built on the edge of the big city, far enough away that most residents didn't have to deal with the hustle and bustle of downtown while still being close enough that the benefits of the big city were only a few minutes away. Each of the quaint little homes were built with smaller woodland animals in mind, trees lined the streets and individual plots were divided by lush green hedges instead of the crude unfeeling brick walls you normally find around the Savanna Central district. It was probably one of the best neighborhoods in the city for middle income families.

All of this was on Judy's mind before she carefully turned the corner and spotted the bright flashing red and blue lights of Higgins' squad car. "It would be a great place to settle down and raise a family," she thought to herself. Not that she was even considering settling down anytime soon. Her career as the first bunny officer in the ZPD had only just begun, and the struggle with the police chief to get a partner had finally paid off, and yet she still had a long ways to go. There was no time to think about domesticity now, she was a bunny who took life by the horns, even if those horns remained attached to a seven foot tall cape buffalo!

In the passenger seat next to Judy sat her partner, casually sipping an expensive cup of Snarlbucks coffee, that had long since gone cold. The red fox had barely graduated from the academy and was still considered the newest rookie at Precinct 1, but she always found his quick mind and abundance of street smarts to be a great benefit to their team. Plus his sharp wit and clever tongue could brighten her rainiest day, and make even the most boring street patrol a little more fun. She honestly would not have lasted very long on the force without the help of that sly fox.

Judy flipped the switch on her dash to activate the blinking lights on the roof of her cruiser and carefully pulled into the driveway right behind a brand new silver imported car of a model she couldn't quite remember, something starting with the letter 'Q' or 'I'. She pulled the parking brake and climbed out of the car with Andersen slowly walking up.

"It's about time both of you got here, Higgins is having a heyday with these two."

"Hopps!" She heard the loud bellowing voice of her superior officer. "Where have you two been all this time!"

Judy groaned and smacked her face with a paw at the sound of her partner making another snide comment, "Well we had to stop for fresh coffee, and really didn't think there was any rush, so …"

The tired hippo glared daggers at the small fox climbing out of the car. "I'm not able to get a straight answer out of this couple and we arrived on the scene 45 minutes ago, and you two kept me waiting on your tiny butts at least half of that time!"

"Sorry, sir!" the rabbit said with droopy ears.

"We're here now so we can certainly help question the witnesses." Nick always jumped at any opportunity to show off his verbal and social skills.

"No!," huffed the much larger cop. "We need you two to enter the residence and assess the situation."

"Neither of us have been able to get inside yet," the polar bear added.

"This is why the Minimum Size Ordinance was added to all the Building Codes. So that emergency response officers like us," he waved a large hoof in Andersen's direction, "can perform our duties without being impeded."

"I completely agree sir!" the rabbit exclaimed.

"This is an older neighborhood, probably built before those codes were in place," commented the fox, but no one was really listening.

"Now Officers Hopps, Wilde, Mr and Mrs Fisher arrived home at 21:00 hours to find that their lights were out and the front door was smashed in. The bay window was also broken. They stepped inside the door, saw that everything was dark and then came back out and called the emergency hotline." Higgins explained while Judy nodded taking notes, and Nick just looked on rubbing his chin with a dark paw. "Officer Andersen and I arrived on the scene at 21:11. I took over attempting to calm and question the victims."

"However, Mrs. Fisher here," the large hippo gestured to the attractive beaver in tears, "is so distraught that the process is not going smoothly."

Judy's ears turned slightly to the side as the polar bear approached the small crowd of onlookers and began asking if any of them saw what happened.

Higgins continued, "Officer Andersen proceeded to investigate the premises but was unable to enter the house and has not found anything out of the ordinary around the perimeter either. So we need you to get in there and see if you can figure out what the heck is going on."

"Will do sir!" The bunny saluted followed sluggishly by the fox.

"Oh and be careful Hopps! Andersen and I have been here for awhile and we haven't seen any movement from the house yet, but that doesn't mean that someone couldn't be waiting inside," the hippo cautioned and this time both the fox and the rabbit nodded in agreement.

Slowly stepping up to the door Judy pulled out her taser pistol, and her cell phone to use as a light. She also had the camera turned on to record the scene as they walked through it.

The first thing she saw was how much damage the door had received. It was literally blown off its hinges causing substantial damage to the frame, while the door itself lay broken in pieces inside the foyer. She could also make out what looked like a large hole or puncture in what used to be the center of the wooden portal. That hole could have easily been made by a hoof or even a horn. "Some large mammal caused this," she thought.

"Are you seeing this Nick?"

"Yeah, now that's one way to make an entrance!" the fox exclaimed with his sly smirk.

Moving past the door Judy focused her light, and her weapon, on the spacious living room. The once richly furnished living space was now completely trashed, with couches and chairs either overturned, or broken, or both, their cushions slashed and the stuffing flung about. A tall floor lamp was destroyed, the fancy fluorescent bulb smashed, and the shade was missing. What looked like some kind of colored paper was shredded and littered across everything like so much confetti, along with long strands of what might have once been toilet paper. In the center of the room a pile of nachos was dumped onto the shattered remains of a very expensive crystal coffee table.

The overly expensive entertainment center was knocked askew, and the giant plasma TV was dented and cracked in several places. Judy also spotted a red flashing light coming from an old fashioned VCR that was still plugged-in, alongside several fitness and exercise tapes, some of which had their ribbons pulled out adding to the general chaos and mess in the large room.

Along the walls and the bookshelves she noticed that all of the family photos were either smashed in their frames or ripped out and torn into little pieces. Nothing else on the shelves seemed to have been disturbed, except for an empty space where one book had obviously been removed.

Judy quickly glanced around the living room for the missing book. Her eyes eventually came across the remains of what looked to have once been a very fancy three ring binder, now torn in half. After spotting the binder she picked up a few bits of colorful confetti to notice they were actually photos meticulously cut into millions of tiny pieces. Someone went to a lot of trouble to destroy this family's photo album.

"Hey Carrots," Nick exclaimed. He was standing next to a fancy end table carelessly shoved into one corner, it was one of the few pieces of furniture that was left mostly untouched. "Would you look at these medical bills!" He then gave a shrill whistle as he lifted the long piece of paper.

"Hush Nick," the rabbit whispered loudly, "what if someone is still in here!" She waved her weapon in the general direction of the kitchen to let her partner know she was moving to the next room.

She could hear him mumbling behind her and only shook her head as he continued to ignore her warnings. "Rhytidectomy reconstruction, gluteoplasty reduction, mammoplasty augmentation, gastric lavage, overnight room and bedside charges what the heck is all this stuff?"

It only took a few seconds for Judy to determine that the kitchen appeared relatively safe, but was trashed similarly to the living room. She first noticed that the refrigerator was open and the doors were removed and laying on the tiled floor.

On closer inspection she saw that their hinges were ripped right off of the frame. Swinging her phone light around she saw that food was thrown everywhere, with ketchup, mustard and many other kinds of condiments smeared onto every available surface. What she found odd tho was that the oven and cook top were undamaged, along with the knife rack, and the stack of clean dishes left to dry next to the sink. Also the marble rotary spice rack was smashed and the contents dumped in random piles on top of the counters.

Nick, who passed the kitchen to check on the dining room simply said, "Clear, nothing here." That room was surprisingly untouched.

Heading down the hall with her weapon raised and ready Judy checked the first door on the left. It was a perfectly spotless bathroom. Nothing was out of place, towels were neatly hanging on their racks, a cute soap dispenser was placed just so next to the sink, and a makeup kit sat next to a small jewelry box in front of the vanity, as if the lady of the house planned to return at any moment. The only oddities were a large prescription tub of anti-scarring cream that had fallen into the sink, and the roll of toilet paper was missing from its burnished brass rack.

Across the hall was a spare room that doubled as both an office and guest bed. The closet door was shut and Judy gestured towards it with her taser. Nick quickly took up position beside her before she slowly nudged open the doors with a fluffy toe, while keeping her weapon raised and pointed at anyone who might have been hiding inside.

"Clear!" The closet was only filled with boxes of what looked like files or maybe bills, along with a single box of stuffed animals and toys suited for a toddler. Leaving the doors open they moved on down the hall to the master bedroom.

The bedroom was by far the worst they had seen yet. A large brass bed sitting in the middle of the room was thoroughly destroyed. Each of it's shiny posts were bent or broken, and covered with more dents than the old Hopps family tractor back in Bunny Burrow. The huge mattress was poked full of holes then stuffed with every manner of raw food, mostly meat and fish products, and finally covered in condiments. Judy had to quickly excuse herself from the room for a few moments as the sight and smell of it was making her sick to her stomach.

With her head in the toilet she spotted an empty strip of pills in a tiny trash can next to it. She held the package up to the camera and made sure to capture the serial number. The pill pack was a very high quality. There were 9 plastic bubbles, that had all been depressed and the pills were gone. They reminded her of some of the daily suppressants that some mammals had to take during certain times of the year. Luckily as a rabbit she didn't have to deal with that kind of monthly cycle, yet.

After several minutes in the bathroom the rabbit returned to find Nick going through the rest of the trash scattered about the floor and had picked up several bits of scrap paper. "This is interesting," he held the paper bits out for Judy to inspect. They looked like they were part of a torn up brochure for some kind of hospital or clinic. From the pieces Nick found she could only make out the letters "Fami," "lanni," and "Clini." The pictures on the front and inside the fold, showed a pregnant mammal and various parents playing with their kits, it was very bright and cheery compared to the rest of the garbage she was standing in.

Garbage was literally strewn across the floor, along with broken bits of furniture while someone had liberally dumped beer over everything before scattering the empty cans. However the curtains were untouched and a priceless painting hung poignantly at the head of the bed as if indifferent to the destruction that littered the rest of the room.

"I think I've seen enough," said Judy as she put away her weapon and stormed out of the house.

Once back into the fresh air and calm evening breeze, the rabbit took several deep breaths to help ease her mind of the savage wreckage and total disregard for the poor couple's personal property that she had recently witnessed. It was infuriating to say the least, and she could easily sympathize with the crying beaver, who now sat in the lawn near the old fruit tree. "How could anyone do this?" she clenched her paws into two tight balls of furry fury.

"I'm not sure Fluff." She hadn't noticed Nick standing beside her. "It looks like your typical college rave party. You know, like when we respond to a noise disturbance call, but the ZU campus is on the other side of town. Plus college kids usually drink the beer, not pour it all over the room."

She looked up at the fox with anger burning in her eyes, "I know, and it didn't look like anything was actually stolen, just severely damaged and destroyed. All of the usual theft items were left just sitting there, the TV and most of the electronics were left plugged in, along with an untouched jewelry box."

Higgins eventually came over after seeing that the two diminutive cops had return from their brief incursion. "I finally managed to get a coherent explanation out of Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, and Andersen took statements from several of the mammals standing on the street. One of them claimed to have heard a loud bang, and saw a late model, mid size SUV in the driveway. They thought it might have been a black and green Tusker or Sabertooth. Did either of you find anything inside?"

"No it's pretty much all clear Sargent," Judy said, then looked down at Nick who nearly choked to death falling onto the grass in laughter. "Well I mean sir, the house is trashed! We didn't find anyone hiding inside and it's my guess that nothing was actually stolen, but we should check with the couple first just to make sure."

The hippo looked thoughtful for one second, "With the way it sounds, and the state of things inside, it might be best if someone escorted the couple through the house first. Wilde!" He gave the todd a quick nudge with his huge toe, "Stop playing in the grass and help Mr. Fisher look over the interior of their premises."

"I think I will stay out here for a bit if you don't mind sir. I need a little fresh air, it was pretty stifling in there," said the bunny taking a deep breath and letting go of some of her frustration and anger at whoever had destroyed the house.

"Fine, but do you mind if I look at that footage you took first?" said the hippo holding out his large hoof to the tiny rabbit.

Judy quickly started the the video playback and handed him her phone. The screen was so tiny sitting in the larger officer's hoof that he could barely make out any of the details of the dark interior.

While Sargent Higgins was watching their tiny walkthrough of the destruction, Nick led Mr. Fisher into the house, and Judy decided to go sit next to the lone apple tree out front. Mrs Fisher was already seated in the dry grass and apple blossoms, without a care to the stains it would leave on her fancy dress. She was also leaning against the trunk looking up a the branches with her large eyes closed. Judy sat down beside her and tried to start a conversation, "Nice night huh?"

"What?", the fancy beaver sobbed.

"Well, there is a warm glow on the horizon and the stars are coming out, so it looks like it's going to turn into a nice night."

"It's horrible!", she almost screamed as the middle aged mammal's sorrow quickly turned to rage and back again.

"I think I can understand."

"No you can't. My night is completely ruined!" the beaver's body shook violently for a second. The constant crying was taking its toll on the poor mammals body. "This was supposed to be OUR special night." Looking at the pain in the other female's eyes, Judy placed her forepaw on the beaver's paw and let her continue. "Rodgier hasn't had a day off work in three months. Plus he always comes home so late, I almost never see him anymore, and, and," her sobs started again suddenly but she immediately slammed her balled fist into the grass so hard it left quite a divot, "and now this!"

Judy opened her mouth in shock at the beaver's nearly instant mood swings.

"Oh I am so sorry," she apologized after seeing Judy's surprise. "You see I've been on these hormone enhancers for awhile now, and my poor Rodgier was supposed to take time off weeks ago to spend some time with me. I have really been trying to hold everything together, and save myself for him, but today I am so ready to jump out of my skin."

"Oh wow!" Judy exclaimed. "And what happened today that ruined everything?"

"Well, since you seem like such a nice bunny and all I guess I could tell about it. Not like that mean rhino over there," she pointed at Higgins, who was standing a few feet away and still totally engrossed in Judy's tiny phone. The beaver was smiling and blushing brightly as she described how her day started to the little rabbit.

"I was so excited when my love returned home early today and said he wanted to go out for dinner, that I took my pills early. We went to a nice place with a great wine selection and a casual dance floor."

"Well that does sound lovely."

"It really was a great dinner."

"So what went wrong?"

"It wasn't the dinner and the dancing, it was me. I just wanted to fell him like a fresh aspen tree right then and there, but he wanted to take it slow and enjoy the evening. At one point I was so worked up we got into a big fight and had to leave," tears started running freely down the make-uped beaver's face again, and Judy patted her paw. "I think he may have been trying to just relax and unwind after all the stress at work, and I was barely holding myself back from sinking my teeth into his hide right there on the dance floor, and I guess I kind of caused a bit of a scene," the shame on her face and the blush on her cheeks fought with the tear streaked makeup but eventually lost, creating a hideous mask of dark and light colors.

"Oh, how bad could a little lover's spat have been?"

"You don't understand sweety. I tried to take his pants off in front of everyone," she cried, burying her muzzle in her paws, and the sobs returned full force. "I tried to rape my own husband!" This time her loud cries got the attention of Sargent Higgins, but he only looked up briefly before returning to the video.

Judy immediately took action. She leapt from her seat next to the tree and leaned over to give the taller mammal a warm hug. "It's ok," she said, and the tears flowed free for several minutes with the two of them in caught in a fierce hug. Once the sobs started to slow, the bunny spoke up, "I am sure Rodgier forgives you."

"Oh, yes he forgave me before we even got in the car. He even held my paws and was flirting with me the whole way home. I think he finally began to understand how very much I need him right now."

"I'm sure he does," the rabbit said with a giggle.

"It took all of my willpower to not jump in his lap while we were driving home. But when we got home, all of this," she waved her paw pointing vaguely around the yard, at the broken in door, and the crowd of neighbors lining the street.

Judy finally let go from the hug and stood up, "I am sure that once this is over, the two of you can find a nice quiet place to be alone together for awhile." As the last word left her lips, those two big radar like ears stood straight up and turned towards the crowd.

"He walked up to the door and POW, nothing but splinters," a small, shrill voice was saying.

"Stop making stuff up," another small but deeper voice said.

The small rabbit officer turn away from Mrs Fisher, who was still sitting in the grass by the apple tree, and said, "I have to take care of something real quick, I'll be right back, ok." And she sprinted towards the crowd.

"It's totally true. I did see Iron Mammal bust into that house, and then he shrank so he could fit through the door."

"I told you to stop making up these wild stories, or so help me there will be no supper for you tonight," and then the small voices faded away and blended in with the rest of the mammal noises.

Judy frantically searched where she thought she had heard them speaking. And asked everyone standing around if they had just been talking about Iron Mammal. They just shook their heads, and she finally had to give up and returned to see how Higgins was doing.

* * *

While Judy was helping console Mrs Fisher, Nick and the bobcat were carefully going through the trash in the house. They had picked through the mess in the living room with little comment, and had headed to the end of the hall and into the destroyed bedroom.

Mr. Fisher finally spoke up with a catch in his throat, "Phyllis is really not going to like this."

"What's that?" the fox looked up from inspecting the mess. "Can you say that again?"

"She was really looking forward to some quality time together this evening."

"Oh, I'm really sorry then," Nick tossed an empty can of Hogswiser onto the bed.

"Oh, um, thanks, I think," the bobcat picked up what remained of the torn brochure and tore it into even tinier pieces, his eyes narrowed in rage, or great pain. He climbed up on the bed and took a quick glance behind the painting hanging above the broken headboard, "You see, I've been working long hours for the last quarter, and really have not had much time to spend on 'US'" He emphasised the last part with air quotes. "She has really been such a good girl all this time, until today."

"Ah, I see," the fox nodded, "What happened."

The bobcat's face lit up with a broad smile and he began to chuckle, "She decided to have her way with me right then and there in the middle of the restaurant."

"Wow, that must have been something. I'm sure the pictures are all over the internet by now."

A sharp snort came from the light brown and spotted feline, "And I'll probably be fired too. I was so surprised by what she did, that I just stood there like an idiot, with my pants down, and her making those wild smacking noises that she always does." He put his muzzle between his paws and left the room, with the fox slowly following behind. "I'm such an idiot. No one really noticed till I tried to get her to stop."

"Why what happened?"

"Well, I tried to pull my pants back up, and get her to stand up, but she started yelling like I was hurting her or something. That's when the manager finally came over and threw us out," Mr. Fisher said walking through another door to inspect the bathroom.

"Was she drunk or something? She seemed really out of sorts when my partner and I arrived."

"You could say that. She's been taking some new meds that have this side effect of heightening her moods. They make all her emotions that much stronger, the good and bad. It's great when she is feeling lovey-dovey, but when she gets mad, you better watch out. Super angry beaver is not the kind of mammal you want to be around." He lowered his head to almost touch his chin to his chest before continuing, "I have to be honest, that is one of the reasons I have been working so much lately. I'm just not sure how long I can handle all of these bouts of wild passion followed by the intense rage. But the doctor says it could take a couple more months before we even see any results. Wait, there's something missing!"

"What's missing?" the fox looked up to see the feline frantically searching the washstand countertop, then pulling out all the drawers and digging through them. "Phyllis' pills, she had a whole month left, but now they're gone. I thought she left them on the counter, and I don't see them in the drawers either."

"Maybe she put them in her purse?" Nick asked.

"No I don't think so. She doesn't normally do that, but she was really intense today so it's definitely possible."

"Alright, lets go ask," stepping aside the todd allowed the distraught homeowner to go first and they headed out of the house.

Before the video in the hippo's palm finished playing Nick returned. "Mr. Fisher says that nothing of any real value was stolen, just a box of the missus' daily meds, but most of the ruined furniture was either antique or imported and claims it is irreplaceable. But it's such a mess in there it's going to take a few days to clean up so they will let us know if they find anything actually missing once it's done."

Handing Judy's phone back Higgins looked at both diminutive officers with a slight hint of a smile across his huge face, "Thanks! You both have been a big help so far. Andersen and I can wrap it up from here so you're free to head back."

"Yes Sir!" Judy saluted smartly, while Nick barely made a casual and sloppy attempt."

"Oh, and Hopps. Can you make sure and send me that video when you get back to the station?"

"Sure thing."

Having finished with the rhino, Judy stepped back over to the old fruit tree where Mr Fisher has joined his wife in the grass. "How are you two doing?" she asked the couple.

"A little better I think," the slim beaver giggled and squeezed her mates larger paw.

"Maybe you cuties can find a nice place to stay tonight."

"That is the plan," said the well dressed bobcat and Judy thought she caught him wink at his wife.

"Well, have fun you two, and make sure you let us know where you're staying once you have a chance to settle in," the rabbit added handing over her business card. "My partner and I have to be going now so if you need anything please feel free to call," and waving her goodbyes she headed back to find her fox.

Strangely she found him mingling in the crowd of onlookers. She had to grab his tie in order to pull him away from the other mammals and said, "Hey we done here, cuz we gotta get back to the station."

"Sure thing Carrots," the fox replied, and they both walked thoughtfully back to their car discussing what they had witnessed that night.

"Did you and Mr. Fisher find anything else interesting inside," Judy asked her partner with a slight hop in her steps. She was looking forward to hearing what his quick mind had to say about this whole mess.

"Well, our Mr. Loving Husband over there has been deliberately avoiding his wife because of her medications."

"Oh, really!" the rabbit's voice became quite shrill and she turned around. "Well I think someone needs to apologize for what he's put her through."

The fox reached out and grabbed her shoulder, "Best to stay out of this Carrots. If we get involved it could be considered police harassment."

"Cheese and crackers, Nick. I just really want to give him a piece of my mind right now. That poor beaver has been crying her eyes out for days because she misses her husband."

"I can actually sympathize with the guy, it seems the meds are giving her really strong mood swings."

The rabbit stopped and stared thoughtfully at their cruiser for a second, "She only said they make her, um, well." She could feel the heat rising in her ears and she pulled them down to keep her partner from seeing how pink they were, "She said they just made her a little excited is all."

"Well, I guess these mood swings were a bit much for him so he has been working extra hours."

"That's actually kind of sad."

"Maybe for emotional little bunnies," he said tugging on one of her bright red ears.

They both climbed into their cruiser, then turned the car back towards the center of the city. Nothing else was said between them until they reached the denser parts of town, where taller brick and mortar buildings crowded together and fought for every available inch of space.

"How about we grab a quick bite to eat," Nick asked, turning to the rabbit as they drove along one of the main avenues past several small fast food joints clustered around each intersection.

Judy, keeping her eye on the slow moving cars ahead of them, did not look back at him, but replied after a few thoughtful moments, "Naw. I would like to, but it's my laundry night and I really want to get these food and beer stains out of my uniform. I'm a total mess after climbing over and through the trash in that house." Her pink nose wrinkled in disgust from the thought of everything they had to go through today. "Besides I have a frozen dinner I can heat up while waiting for the washer."

"Ok, how about I buy lunch tomorrow Carrots?"

"You got a deal Slick!"

Once they arrived at Nick's apartment complex they both said their farewells with Nick hopping out the door and heading up the stairs. Judy waved at him as she drove off heading back to her own little closet of a room.

* * *

 **(RODGIER IS PRONOUNCED RODE-GJAY SIMILAR TO THE FRENCH VERSION OF ROGER BUT WITH A HARD SOUNDING D)**

 **[AN] I have recently gone back and cleaned up this chapter and added some more dialog from Mr & Mrs Fisher. This chapter was originally just an after thought from chapter two so I never really spent alot of time fleshing out all of the details. I will be continuing to clean up and edit these earlier chapters as I try to keep to a some what regular upload schedule on the new ones.**


	2. Chapter 2 - In the Lap of Luxury

Chapter 2 - In The Lap of Luxury

The parking lot was filled to capacity. Every single size, shape, and color of vehicle imaginable was parked there, from single seated large-mammal cars to the tiny vans that could carry a whole generation of mice. They were all there, and not a single parking space was free, at least not for an over sized, turbo-charged monster of a police cruiser.

Judy Hopps looked over to her partner at the same time as she skillfully pulled the black and white police car into the busy parking lot. Then, with as much pep and spunk as she could put into her smile she asked him, "How about this one?"

Next to her in the passenger seat sat a fox with a burnished red coat who was almost twice her size. The todd was clothed in a standard issue police uniform that could only barely pass inspection. He stared out of the thick, impact-resistant window at the flow of traffic, not noticing anything the gray and white plush rabbit driving the car had to say.

"Nick!" Judy exclaimed and reached across to give her unaware partner a good shove to wake him from whatever daydream held his mind captive. In response, his slightly rumpled uniform barely shifted under the force of her soft paw. A moment later she heard a deep, "hmmm," come from his long muzzle, but his eyes continued to stare lazily out the window.

With a fair amount of care, the rabbit was able to weave the over sized cruiser through the rows of parked cars while reaching across the seat to grab his arm and viciously shake the daydreaming fox into mindfulness. "Dispatch to Officer Dumb-Fox, come in Dumb-Fox, what's your twenty?"

Two lazy, green eyes above an orange and black snout turned from their intense inspection of the inside of the car window to face the sweet fury of the uniformed bunny. "What, Fluff?" his voice sounded dry and husky like he had barely awoke from a long fox-nap.

"For our lunch break, silly mammal! I hear this place has a great lunch menu." She stopped shaking him long enough to point out the window to the front of Nelly's Diner and carefully dodged a small coupe whose driver was also looking for a parking space in the busy lot.

Nelly's was one of those old fashioned type of diners, with a modern style make-over, placed smack in the middle of downtown Zootopia. The sleek wood and leafy exterior gave it an earthy jungle look that let most forest dwelling mammals feel right at home amongst the bustling city streets. With it's cozy atmosphere and centralized location, it was a perfect stop for business meetings, or casual meet and greets. Today however, there was a moderate line of hungry mammals at the door waiting for the daily lunch special.

"Oh sure. Sounds great," he mumbled in his partner's general direction with as much enthusiasm as a sloth on a coffee break.

"What's going on today Slick? What is soooo important that you can't even look up for two seconds to see where we are?"

"Oh sorry Bun. So where are we?" He finally turned to actually look at their location and replied, "Oh, Nelly's! Nice choice Carrots, but that line looks a little savage don't you think?" As he spoke he casually gestured to the herd of wildebeest piled up outside the door.

"Har, Har," the cute grin barely visible on her face. "It will be fine, as soon as I can find a place to park."

"Sorry I've been out of it all day. I keep thinking about our last case. Something just keeps bugging me, that I can't get out of my mind."

Judy looked up from the steering wheel of their cruiser, her nose twitched curiously, "You mean the break in out by the edge of the Meadowlands?"

"Yeah that's the one! I keep replaying everything over and over again in my head like a bad movie."

"The place was pretty trashed. It would give me nightmares too, thinking about who could do such a terrible thing to that nice couple."

"Right," said Nick rubbing his muzzle with both paws, "and none of the pieces seem fit together."

"Well, it had all the earmarks of some sort of wild party, " the sharp minded bunny added, "but it was obviously some how staged. Maybe they were looking for something?"

"That is what bugs me Fluff. This whole thing has me on edge. I really feel like I'm missing something," the fox explained as Judy reached out to hold his nearby paw.

"I am sure we will figure it out eventually," she said patting the dark fur on the end of his fingers, while making sure to avoid the sharp claws.

"I just need to go over the facts in my head some more."

"Ok," she said very enthusiastically. "This place is packed, maybe we should find somewhere that isn't so busy." She made a another loop around the lot and started to head for the exit.

"Naw this is fine." Nick pointed to a bright red vehicle several cars ahead with a small group of well-fed reindeer climbing in and exclaimed, "Look, someone is pulling out. We could wait for them."

"Thanks! What would I ever do without you?" Judy squeezed his paw firmly before grabbing the wheel and waited for the other car to move.

"Alright, back to the case at paw."

"Right!" Her eyes brightened with curiosity. It was always so much fun to watch, or listen, to how his sly fox mind worked through problems. That was one of the reasons why she loved having him as a partner. He always saw the little details she missed and could look at them from so many different angles that would often surprised her.

"Such a sharp mammal," she thought with a smile.

Judy's hind paw tapped slowly as she not so patiently watched two of the youngest reindeer help their elderly grandmother climb into the shiny, red and white trimmed van, before they began the process of slowly backing out of the parking spot.

Halfway through backing out of their spot the reindeer decided to pulled the car forward again and right back where they had just been a few moments prior. The bunny let out a short frustrated groan, and thrust her forehead into the steering wheel while two fluffy long ears flew forward and slapped the inside of the car window. "You know, it's really cute when you do that Carrots." Judy glared fiercely at Nick and missed that the young of the teenagers was at the wheel of the other car. Probably her first time diving.

After a few minutes of maneuvering the reindeer-filled van finally moved on, leaving the space open for Judy's much bigger cruiser.

Still staring out the window while concentrating on yesterday's case, Nick finally spoke up, "None of this makes any sense. And the more I think about it the more I just get an upset stomach!"

"That's why you should stop thinking so much and come have lunch with me you silly fox," the rabbit chirped happily exiting their cruiser, and the two smallest ZPD officers walked into the busy dinner.

Inside, the restaurant was crisp and modern. The large seating areas were built out of smoothly comfortable yet curvy lines and all the available space was filled with green, leafy plants and bright blooms. Every seat was packed with hungry mammals and the air was filled with conversation. The ambiance really gave the sense of being lost deep in a wild jungle, yet it was also very cozy at the same time.

Nick was seated on a comfortable, faux leather bench in the lobby, while his fingers played with the curled leaves of the dark green fern next to him. As he rolled them back and forth between the three longest fingers on his paw a smaller, furry grey shape brushed swiftly against them knocking the curled leaf out of his grasp.

"Stop fidgeting Nick! Leave the poor plants alone."

Nick barely giggled at the rabbit's poor attempt to chastise him, "So says the bunny who hasn't stopped jumping around for the last twenty minutes since we got in here. Besides they are fake!"

"Its called 'dancing' Nick. They are playing really good music, and I just have to dance!"

"Of course, very attractive," he commented, his voice dripping with sarcasm, and his eyes taking in her every move as Judy twisted and swayed her hips in time with the soft music coming from the overhead speakers.

"You really think so?" A light blush filled her soft cheeks and ran up to her ears, and she quickly pulled them back behind her head before anyone else noticed.

"Absolutely, one hundred percent." Nodding with his usual shifty smirk to cover any other emotions that might have appeared on his face.

At that exact moment, a tall beige and white striped antelope with a fresh grown pair of short heart shaped curly horns, approached them carrying two menus. "Hopps, Wilde, party of two?" she asked politely with a slight mix of urgency and boredom. When they both stood and said, "Yes," her eyes brightened into a slight smile and she turned with a quick swish of her tail, waving a free hoof towards the seating area. "Follow me please."

As was every server at Nelly's Diner, this waitress was dressed in a brightly colored outfit, complete with a skirt and apron. Her pockets were also filled with a notepad, spare napkins and straws. The whole ensemble fit well with the jungle theme but somehow made the restaurant staff look like exotic birds flittering about a forest canopy, carrying heavily laden trays of food and beverages. With as tall as this middle aged antelope was, her uniform didn't seem to fit quite right and the skirt was just a wee bit too short for her build.

Nick noticed the discrepancy almost immediately and could not help staring at her long shapely legs, as she lead the two officers to the waiting table. After a few moments Judy happened to follow Nick's eye and gave him a sharp punch to the shoulder.

"Quit staring! It's rude," she hissed, then rolled her eyes at his antics. This was only Nick being Nick of course.

"Here you are," said the pretty antelope as she showed off the table, like it was a prize antique at an auction house, and laid down both menus. "My name is Sharline and I will be your server for today. Can I get you anything to drink first, while you look over the menu?"

The table was quite clean and still slightly damp from the towel that had graced its surface only moments before they arrived. It was a two seater made for medium sized mammals as large as wolves or deer. For the two small officers it was almost too large, making them look like a pair of kits standing next to it.

"Um, just water will be fine," the todd replied, and casually climbed into his seat.

"I'll have a large carrot juice, please." said the rabbit staring up at the chair that was much larger than she was, and tried to decide weather to leap into it or try climbing up as her partner had already done.

Once she found her seat the fox across the table couldn't help stifling a vibrant chuckle when he looked up from the menu to see nothing of Judy but a pair of fuzzy rabbit ears sticking above the table. One of the ears twitched in annoyance. "Nick, Stop," came an agitated voice from under the table.

"Sorry Fluff, can't help myself. It's just so ... so ..."

"Don't even think it!" She quickly cut him off before he could call her cute... again.

With a pair of ice cold drinks in her hooves the waitress returned to notice Judy's predicament and had to apologize, "I am so sorry ma'am but all of our small-mammal booster seats are currently being used by the other customers. By the way, we do have a special on each of our Garden Fresh variety salads today. So if you want to look over the menus I will be right back in a few minutes, ok." She gave them both a very cheery smile and walked away to the next table swishing her short, bright tail happily.

Nick continued to chuckle at his partner's expense. "This isn't funny Slick! I've been standing all day giving out tickets to those damn street racers again, and along with that cargo truck roll over on the freeway, my paws are tired. I really don't want to have to stand here and eat my lunch too!"

"Sorry Fluff," he apologized. "How about you come over here and use my lap instead? That way you can rest those adorable little toes of yours and still see over the table at the same time."

"That's a great idea!" she replied excitedly, jumping down off the over sized chair. "And then we can even share lunch together too! It would be so much cheaper if we order one big salad instead of two meals." Pausing next to Nick's chair she looked up at him, the cheerful expression gone from her face and her ears drooped slightly. "But what will the other mammals think if I am sitting in your lap?"

"Don't worry so much, Finnick and I used to do this a lot when a place like this was overly busy!" Chuckling again the todd held out his dark paw for her.

"But he is also a fox and you could always say that he was your son."

"Which of course we did quite often. Besides darling, we can easily write anyone a ticket for obstructing an officer in the performance of their duties."

The rabbit just laughed at him as he helped her climb up the side of the chair and onto his warm, uniformed lap. "You are such a dirty con-mammal. You know that, don't you!"

"But you always enjoy my sly antics, don't deny it."

"I reserve the right to not reply, Officer," she says winking at him.

"Sit down and order our lunch already, ya dumb bunny."

"Sly fox!"

After several minutes, the antelope finally returned with a more than surprised look on her face as she noticed their seating arrangements. "Oh my! Well what ever works for ya sweety." She quickly pulled out her notepad and prepared to jot down their order. "Sorry, it's been an unusually busy lunch rush today. What can I get you two officers then?"

Judy looked up at Nick and gave a little cough. "Go ahead, Carrots pick whatever you like. My treat," he said.

"Um, ok," she quickly scanned the menu's fresh salad section before turning back to the waitress. "We'll take the large Garden Fresh Berries and Greens salad, oh, and," she tilted her head back to look up at Nick. "Do you want some fried bugs on top?"

"Sure," the fox replied almost too casually, still eyeing the tall antelope's too short skirt.

Slowly looking back and forth between the two small cops the waitress casually replied, "A large mammal salad? Are you planning on sharing then?" Judy nods quite energetically and the waitress continued, "We have two kinds of fried bugs today, would you like crickets or cicadas?"

"Oooh, cicadas please!" Nick's eyes sparkled at the thought of having a chance to have the slightly more exotic insects.

"Alright! One large mammal salad with fried cicadas on top. Can I get you anything else to go with it?"

"Um," Nick looked at Judy thoughtfully for a second, "Could we also have some extra blueberries?"

"Great! Large salad with cicadas and a side of blueberries. I will have that out for you in a few minutes," replied the waitress before she dashed off to the kitchen.

For the next few minutes the fox and rabbit officers sat quietly together in their chair, each slowly sipped their drinks. Unconsciously Nick began poking his partner in the soft ticklish spot under her right arm. It only took three pokes of his claw before Judy squirmed wildly and smacked him gently in the jaw with the back of her soft fluffy paw. "Stop it Slick, or so help me you're going to be wearing carrot juice all over your smug face!"

Raising both paws in the air and putting on a totally innocent look he chuckled and replied, "Whaaaaa? I'm just getting bored, and a bit hungry too. The thought of having fresh fried cicadas again is almost making me drool."

"Whoa there buddy! Watch where you're drooling then, I don't want your slobber getting onto my nice clean uniform! I just washed everything last night after slogging through that ransacked house, and I don't want to have to do it again today."

"Ok carrots, I will make sure not to get any of my charming fox drools on your nice uniform," he said with a wink, "however I can't guarantee anything about those big ears or that little pink nose," he gave her a sharp boop on the nose.

Judy groaned inwardly and rolled her eyes, then went back to casually sipping her carrot juice. After only three sips she quickly tried to turn around and almost painfully jabbed Nick in the ribs.

"Oww, that hurt!"

"Sorry, but I've been thinking about the break-in case too."

"Oh, and what has your brilliant bunny mind come up with now? " Nick quipped.

"What if someone was trying to send some kind of message?"

"Huh? What would give you that idea Fluff?"

"Because other than the furniture and the fridge, only personal and family items were broken or destroyed."

"So you think someone is trying to tell that couple 'Don't mess with our family or we will mess with yours'?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should take another look around the place."

"Yeah. Nothing else going on today. We could swing by the scene after lunch and see if there is anything we missed last time." said Nick as the waitress arrived with their lunch.

Judy looked up, her big amethyst eyes full of excitement, as their waitress placed a huge plate of lettuce, berries, and other fresh green vegetables on the table directly in front of them. The salad looked to Nick's eyes like it was big enough to feed a whole family of rabbits.

"Great! Now let's hurry up and finish lunch. I'm starving!"

"Yep, wouldn't want this poor little bunny going hungry now would we? She needs all the energy she can get for catching those big, mean bad guys."

"Har, Har!" Judy quickly dug into the berries and greens with her fork. All conversation ceased between them as the rabbit happily devoured half the plate of lettuce in front of her in a matter of moments.

Nick casually nibbled on the cicadas with a slow and steady pace. He would dip them slowly in the salad dressing one by one, or wrap them in a few pieces of lettuce along with a fresh onion or pepper. The blueberries however disappeared almost instantly once the last cicada left the plate.

About twenty minutes later Judy was chasing the last few vegetables around the plate with her fork but they kept sliding away in the slippery sauce lining the bottom. Nick simply put his finger in the sauce to stop the culprits from escaping. Once cornered, Judy was now able to skewer the offending tidbits.

He soon noticed that his finger was wet with salad dressing and reached for one of the napkins left on the table to wipe it off, but two grey paws suddenly grabbed his and a short pink tongue quickly licked the finger clean. "Mmm," the bunny hummed with a content smile.

"Aww, what a sweet couple," stated an elderly, and nearly blind, badger female to her husband as they walked past the table on the way out of the restaurant.

Judy giggled at their comment and quickly replied, "Oh we're NOT a couple ma'am. We're just bestest friends."

"Come along dear, let's not bother these nice officers," the male badger said trying to shoo his wife closer to the door.

"Well you have a nice day then dearies."

Nick only chuckled as Judy waved at them. "Well that was a bit odd wasn't it."

"Such a nice old couple," said the rabbit trying to hold back a grin so big it almost didn't fit on her small face.

"Well, if you're done Carrots. It's time we got back to work."

"Right!"

Judy climbed down first, followed by Nick who had a slight flustered look on his face and his paws patted his pockets, front and back. "Oh no I think I forgot my wallet!"

"Oh no you don't, not this time Slick!" Judy held up a small leather binder waving it right in front of the fox's muzzle. "I already took the liberty of checking for you. You're not going to get out of paying for lunch today!"

"Fine! You got me this time sweetheart. Nice hustle by the way." He pulled out a 20 from the wallet and laid it on the table, shoving the faux-leather billfold back into his pocket. "You're getting better these days."

"I learned from the best," she said as she gave him a firm hip bump before they both headed for the door.

"Have a great day officers!" cried the antelope waitress from across the room and waved them farewell.

"That was a pretty generous tip there Slick! I usually take you for the stingy type," Judy commented as she stepped through the sliding glass door in the front of the restaurant.

"Well she was very nice considering how slammed it was in there. Plus you were right about buying one big salad instead of two meals. So I just made up the difference in her tip."

Suddenly Judy's shoulder radio cut into their conversation, "Possible 10-34, armed robbery, in progress, corner of Statesmammal and Lime, any officers in the area please respond. Repeat: 10-34 Statesmammal and Lime!"

"Carrots, that's two blocks from here!"

The rabbit didn't hesitate before she was sprinting to their cruiser with her fox partner hot on her bare heels. Before she had taken two steps, the mic was in her paws and she firmly squeezed the call button, "Officers Hopps and Wilde responding, ETA 2 minutes!" She then punched both fists into the air yelling "Woo Hoo!"

 **[AN] I would like to thank everyone who read my first chapter and all of the wonderful reviews. I also have to thank SkyLansing for the awesome job he did helping me edit this chapter, it really made a huge difference.**

 **Please note that this chapter was actually written before the first one so there may be some inconsistencies between them.**

 **I do have a full story outline roughly sketched in and I am trying to get all the details written down before I forget them and my break is over, so I should have something coming out twice a week if not sooner. If I start writing longer chapters however it will push things back quite a bit, and I am a fan who loves reading much longer works so we will see how it goes.**

 **Thanks again for all the wonderful support!**

 **OneWolfe-**


	3. Chapter 3 - Get a Room

Chapter 3 - Get a Room

"Come on Nick! Get those short, foxy legs in gear, we've got bad guys to catch!" Yelled the plush, grey and white rabbit as she literally leapt and bounded across the parking lot. Judy never bothered to look behind her to see that a tall fox wearing the dark blue uniform of the ZPD was right on her tail. All she ever needed was the sound of his bare paws slapping the pavement and the deep huff of his labored breathing to know that her partner was there to cover her backside.

She climbed into their black and white cruiser and gunned the engine forcing it to let out a fierce snarl.

"Easy Officer Gung-ho, I would like to still be alive when we get there!" Nick slammed his door barely in time before the car charged forward. Moments later he flipped on the lights and siren as Judy vaulted into traffic like a starving rabbit chasing after a runaway carrot wagon.

"Come on Nick aren't you the least bit excited?"

"Oh yes, very excited, 100 percent!" The fox exclaimed holding onto the handle above the side window, the sarcasm thick in his smooth russet voice. "As cute as you are when you're in 'Chase Mode,' I don't want to see my lunch a second time today."

The rabbit just scoffed and rolled her eyes at him and let the 'cute' comment slide since she was too busy weaving through the lunchtime traffic at high speed. This was the third time today that he had actually called her cute, not counting the one she cut off before it escaped his lips, and she was going to make sure to pay him back for each and every one.

"There it is, Lime street intersection. And on the corner is Bearstine's Megamart," Judy exclaimed leaning heavily into the turn.

Tires screeched around the sharp corner as the speeding cruiser dove into the huge open parking lot with Nick hanging onto his seat like his life was going to end any second. "It looks like there is some kind of scuffle at the east entrance! Head over there and maybe we can cut them off."

Mere seconds passed before Judy slammed on the breaks outside of the east entrance of the huge megamart and tried to cut off a large grey and white timber wolf who was running as fast as he could away from the building while trying to push a loaded shopping cart. Before the car had even come to a full stop she leapt through the driver side door straight at the wolf.

"Police! Stop right there!" yelled the flying bunny before she suddenly found her small frame slammed into the metal side of a very full shopping cart. The impact knocked her to the ground and left her dazed for a second.

Slowly trying to get back onto her feet, she was once again hit by the heavy cart and thrown several feet through the air to land hard on the unforgiving parking lot pavement with a sharp cry of pain.

At this time Nick was coming around the front side of the vehicle pointing his taser at the wolf and his fully loaded cart. "Freeze! ZPD, you're under arrest!" Nick cried gesturing emphatically with his weapon. "Put your paws in the air."

The scraggly unkempt wolf who looked like he hadn't slept in several days was wearing a torn up t-shirt for some obscure and outdated rock band. A thick chain was wrapped around his messy brown pants but they still looked like they would fall off his butt at any moment, and he kept trying to lift them back up every few seconds. He took one look at the weapon pointed at him and shoved the cart directly at Nick with as much force as he could and took off running the other direction.

Nick dodged the speeding cart only to see it bounce off the police cruiser instead of his body.

In his mad dash to get away from Nick, the wolf ran right past Judy who shouted at the fleeing criminal, "Halt! Police!" 'Why does that never work?' She thought pushing off with her powerful legs and began the pursuit across the parking lot.

The much larger mammal had to dodge and weave between all of the parked cars while the smaller rabbit simply leapt over them giving her the clear advantage in this chase. Despite a slight limp to her sore paw Judy had almost caught up to the fleeing thief when he dodged around a large, oncoming vehicle forcing her to stop and wait. It was a mid sized black and green Tusker SUV made by General Mammals Inc. By the time the SUV had passed, the wolf was well out of sight.

Her first guess proved correct when she spotted the wolf again after leaping around the corner of the huge grocery store. He was quickly approaching the far end of the building still trying to hold up his droopy pants and the small, swift rabbit was hard pressed to catch up. She took a deep breath and put as much force into her powerful hind legs as she could and raced after the quickly escaping suspect.

Before Judy had even made it halfway down the length of the building, the disheveled timber wolf turned the corner. He paused a second to look back at the bunny cop chasing him and let out a loud laugh before jumping around the edge of the building, "Later, Cottontail!"

Judy barely had time to blink before there was a loud snap followed by a long buzz, and she saw the wolf fly back into view with his arms and legs flailing wildly. He landed several feet away on the cold hard pavement with a loud crunch, then lifted his head for a second to look up at a red fox holding a medium sized taser pointed at him. Judy continued running forward and heard Nick say, "And that's for hitting my partner with a shopping cart, scumbag!"

Then the wolf promptly passed out.

"Nick!" the rabbit exclaimed as she rushed forward to give her partner a warm hug.

"That's what partners are for, sweetcheeks! Now let's cuff this scumbag and get him back to the precinct."

"Great! While you do that I will go check on the clerk or who ever it was that phoned this in," she said, heading back around the corner to the front of the store.

"Oof! You are a heavy one," Nick grunted, as he tried to roll the perp over so he could cuff the wolf's paws behind his back. He then slowly dragged the other mammal across the ground to the waiting car. "Come on buddy, let's get you all nice and comfy in the car."

Driving the cruiser back to the east entrance, Nick spotted Judy standing outside and chatting with a ram of average height, dressed up as a hired security guard. The front of the guard's uniform was covered in some kind of yellow-green liquid and he smelled of urine. While the wolf was safely cuffed and locked in the back of the cruiser, Nick left the car and sauntered up to his partner and the security guard that were discussing what had just happened.

"Then he pulled this gun out of his pockets and hit me with the cart again before he started running across the parking lot. That's about when you two showed up. I knew he looked suspicious the whole time, that's why I called the cops before he tried anything funny."

"You said he had a gun, sir?" Judy asked, furiously jotting down everything the ram said.

"Yes, yes! It was this big black job with some kind of fancy gadget on top. I saw it in his pocket when he passed me in the automotive section. That's when I decided I'd better make the call before anything bad happened." The ram claimed, puffing out his chest proudly while he had both thumbs stuck into his belt loops and was rocking back on his hoofs.

"And where is this gun now? It wasn't on the perp when we apprehended him."

"I don't know. Like I said before, ma'am, he pulled it out of his pocket as he was coming out of the store. I tried to stop him but he just hit me with the cart until I fell down. Maybe he threw it away when he saw you flying into the parking lot the way you did. That sure was some fancy driving, ma'am!"

"Ok, we will look around the lot for it then. Nick! Can you ask our friend in the car what he did with the weapon?" Judy yelled to Nick before turning to the contents of the stolen cart.

"Sure thing Bunny-kins! Let me see if he is awake yet!"

Looking into the hard metal cart, Judy again replied to the security guard, "You can keep the stolen items but we need a complete list for evidential purposes." She started making a list in her notebook with a very puzzled expression across her face. The items on the list appeared to be completely random and made absolutely no sense to her.

Back at the car, Nick had managed to wake the unconscious wolf and was questioning him about the gun. "So where did you throw it buddy? The guard said you pulled a gun on him, so we know you had one on you. It will be a lot easier on both of us if you stop lying and just tell us what you did with it."

"I already told you everything! I ain't never shot no guard!"

Nick's sly smirk had returned, "Ok pal, if that's how you're going to be, we can just deal with this back at the station." Slamming the back door of the cruiser, he turned around to find his partner standing by the shopping cart with a very puzzled look on her adorable bunny face.

"What's the matter Fluff? Carrot got your tongue?" He chuckled at his own joke.

"Nick, none of this makes any sense! Why would anyone risk a jail sentence for all this random junk?"

"What do you mean 'junk', Carrots?"

"This stuff," she pointed at the contents of the thief's shopping cart, "It's all junk! Anti-freeze, hard plastic shower tubing, light bulbs, dye-free detergent, a dozen boxes of decongestant, baby formula… and extra strength tampons…" She left the last bit hang in the air for several seconds. "Is he so broke he can't even take care of a wife and cubs or something?"

"Let me see that list again," Nick replied, taking a long look at her miniature notebook. "Ok, I think I know what's got you so confused Fluff!"

"Oh please enlighten me, oh great and wise master of all things cheap and underhanded," her voice rich with sarcasm. "Why does a scruffy looking wolf steal this much random junk?" She punched him sharply in the arm taking back her notebook.

"If my guess is correct, these are all items used in a homemade drug lab. Like the one we saw on the Night Howler case last year. But I have not idea what the fancy light bulbs are for. If he needed glass, there are way cheaper ways to get it."

"I really don't think he was too worried about the costs, Slick, since he obviously wasn't planning on paying for them anyway."

Later they said their good-byes to the guard and Judy took another scout around the parking lot, looking under cars and behind bushes before she climbed back into their cruiser to drive back to the station.

"Still no sign of it?"

"Nope."

"Wonder if he threw it on the roof."

"Well, we will see once the store manager can send us those security tapes."

Judy pulled the car up to the front of Precinct #1 as Nick hauled the larger wolf up the steps, and into the main lobby to hand him over to the large rhinoceros officer waiting for them at the door. "Let's throw him in the box first, I've got some questions I want answered before Hopps and I start the paperwork on this scumbag."

"Sure thing Wilde. We'll have him processed and ready for ya in about 30 minutes." said Rhinowitz as he lead away the pawcuffed timber wolf.

"Thanks, big guy."

Judy waltzed over to Nick and said, "Hey, while we're waiting for our perp to get his pictures taken, want to grab a quick coffee?"

"Naw, but thanks Carrots. I've got some errands I need to take care of real quick." She noticed he had an extra wide smirk on his muzzle and a bright glint in his eyes as he headed towards the back of the station. "I will return once our pal has had some time to cook for awhile."

Judy headed up to her desk, but stopped by Clawhauser's desk to grab all the right forms they were going to need to fill out in order to put their perp away for the maximum sentence.

Roughly an hour later, a large grey and white timber wolf was pawcuffed and chained to a shiny, silver table in the center of an otherwise completely empty room with dull and cracked mirrors on the walls and a single light swinging on a rusty chain from the ceiling. The light felt just a bit too hot for the wolf, and the creak from the rusty chain was making him edgy. His name was Charles Longtooth and he hadn't slept in days, plus, his paws had been shaking for almost as long as he had been in this terrible room. It felt like hours and his throat was very dry.

After several minutes of trying to wet his lips with a long, rough tongue, the only door to the room slammed open with a loud bang, making the wolf jump. The chain holding his paws wasn't long enough for him to stand up, so it quickly pulled him back into his seat painfully.

Through the open door walked a very short and angry looking cop with tall ears carrying an armload of files and a slight limp in her left leg. "Was wondering when they were going to send in the Badge Bunnies," Charles' chuckle was cut off almost immediately as the expression on the rabbit's face turned to pure evil. He had never seen a rabbit cop before today. This one looked downright scary, and he was almost afraid to be in the same room with her.

Following the angry bunny through the door was a completely different kind of mammal. The suave looking fox walked into the room with a completely casual air, and not a single care in the world. It almost felt like he was going on an exotic vacation in the tropics, he even smiled cheerily at the miserable-feeling wolf, chained to the cold, steel table, in that hot and empty room. 'Was he actually whistling?' thought the wolf in doubt of his own senses.

The door closed silently behind the pair and the very angry rabbit climbed up on the chair opposite from Charles and plopped the large folder down on the table in front of her. He didn't know what had made this poor bunny so pissed, but, by the sound of her voice, he could tell she was ready to chew bricks and spit nails. "Ok, Mr. Longtooth you're in a lot of trouble and I am in no mood to hear any sob stories or apologies about why you needed those goods to take care of your family!"

Charles slowly looked up at her, "Um, Ok …"

"Shut Up!" she slammed her paw down on the table with a loud bang. "Armed robbery, resisting arrest, assault and battery, assaulting an officer, injuring said officer when you hit me with that dam cart, and damaging police property when you decided to slam said cart into my patrol car!" she was literally spitting into his face as she said the last bit.

Nick stretched out a gentle paw to calm her down. "Ok, easy Officer Hopps." She slowly sat back down into her chair still glaring daggers at the nervous wolf.

His paws were clearly shaking now and he could feel the chain pulling painfully at his wrists. "I never had a gun," was all he said trying very hard to not look at the furious rabbit.

"The guard at the store disagrees with you, and once we finish looking over the security tapes we'll know for sure. And I'm pretty sure that I already know what we're going to find, Mr. Longtooth! So you might as well come clean and tell us what you needed those goods for."

Charles didn't see that question coming. He thought they would focus entirely on finding a weapon to pin on him, and wasn't really prepared to answer the rabbit yet, besides his throat was really dry now.

"Can I get a glass of water?" he asked, his voice obviously cracking painfully in the heat of the still swinging lamp..

"What?" the smallest cop asked.

"Can I get some water, please?" he said louder but with much more strain in his voice.

"NO!" the evil rabbit slammed her paw down on the table again making Charles jump and pull painfully against his restraints. A slight growl escaped past her long bucked teeth, "Tell us what you were planning on doing with those supplies Mr Longtooth and we'll consider making things a little more comfortable for you."

"You might want to consider doing what she asks, buddy." The fox said to him with a cool, friendly charm as he casually leaned in the corner opposite from the bunny. "She could really make your life a living hell right now if you let her." His voice was so warm and charming that Charles found himself almost wanting to believe what the fox said.

Charles looked up to him with a pained expression in his dark eyes, "Ok, but it's just so very hot in here, I can hardly breath."

The rabbit nodded to her partner, who casually left the room, not before swiping his paw at her ears playfully. After a few minutes the fox returned with a lukewarm glass of water and placed it in front of the police bunny just out of reach of the pawcuffed wolf. He raised his paw to cease the swinging of the lamp before he casually returned to his corner.

"Here is your water Mr. Longtooth," the bunny said, not once taking her eyes off of him. She was obviously waiting for him to speak before actually giving him anything to drink.

"It's for my friend."

"Your friend?" she slowly slid the tall glass of water over to him as he continued speaking.

"Yes, he … he said he needed all that stuff." Taking a long drink of water he almost choked twice, the water felt so good on his dry throat. "He gave me a list of everything he needed and told me to pick it up, and that I could get it all at Bearstine's real cheap. So I … I went there with a few bucks but I saw how much they wanted for everything. I knew I couldn't afford any of it, so I, so I."

His paws were violently shaking now. 'He really needed to get his fix soon.'

"Ok, Mr. Longtooth, please tell us more about your 'friend', why did he need all of those supplies?" Her voice much more calm and reassuring, and the evil glare in her eyes was gone.

"He is a doctor," he told her, "or a professor or just some really smart guy. He, he said he could help me out if I brought him all the stuff tonight."

"And how was he going to help you out tonight?"

"He promised to get me the Fix." His paws shook so badly that the table was vibrating and the bunny's files were spreading all over the top of it. Then Charles started yelling and pulling at his cuffs, "I need my Fix, I need it now!"

The fox immediately moved into action and placed his hands gently on the wolf's shoulder to try to restrain and calm him. "Take it easy buddy, no need to get violent here. Just sit back down and finish answering a few more questions and then we can see about getting you out of here." Somehow the fox's tone never changed through the entire incident, it was just so calm and reassuring that Charles decided to stop snarling at the bunny and sit back down and listen to the rest of what this strange pair had to say.

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just really need my fix. What else did you want to know?"

The uniformed rabbit looked back up at her partner questioningly before she turned back to Charles with her next question.

"Can you tell us where your friend is, Mr. Longtooth? Can you tell us where to find his lab?"

The rage immediately returned full force. His eyes narrowed and his muzzle slowly opened into a snarl letting out a low, angry growl.

"NO! I am done talking now! I am not telling you coppers anything else. So lock me up, throw away the dam key, but I'm never gonna rat out the Doc, ya hear!" His growling and snarling continued.

Nick took one look at Judy then walked to the steel door and said, "Ok, I think we're done here." Any hint of his smooth charming tone was completely gone. He was all business now as he opened the door and called for Rhinowitz who had been waiting outside the whole time. "Can you please take this prisoner away and dump him in cell three? I think he would like to spend a little time with Bruiser this evening." Unknown to either the wolf or Judy, Nick quickly winked at the rhino.

The guard gave Nick a puzzled look before asking, "With the polar bear?"

"Yes, that's the one. Just make sure they are nice and cozy, ok?"

Rhinowitz quickly unchained the wolf's cuffs from the table and lead him out of the room with Nick following close behind.

Judy grabbed the pile of files on the table and looked at Charles with a sad expression on her face and her voice full of sincerity. "I am very sorry it had to end this way, Mr. Longtooth, but if you had been more cooperative with us, things might have turned out very differently."

The wolf only gave her a shocked expression as he was being lead away.

Once the wolf was out of earshot Judy turned to Nick with a very puzzled expression on her face, "Nick what the heck are you doing? I know you're up to something again."

"You will see, Carrots. Ah, Clawhauser, right on time!"

Clawhauser was standing right outside the interrogation room door that Rhinowitz and the wolf just went through, he was holding, as usual, a large box of donuts from The Big Donut. When he saw Nick he held out the box. "One dozen anchovy glazed surprize." He stuck out his tongue with a look of disgust, "Eww, who puts anchovies on donuts?"

"Thanks buddy," said the fox as he carefully grabbed the box and dashed after Rhinowitz and his wolf prisoner.

When he caught up to them again he started chatting with the rhino amicably. "So, I heard Bruiser is back again today. Third time this week eh?"

The rhino just snorted and rolled his eyes as Nick continued to babble and the wolf still growling, tried in vain to fight against his restraints.

"What is he in for this time? Oh that's right, Drunken assault and battery. Apparently, he has something against wolves."

After several minutes of this, Rhinowitz finally caught onto what Nick was going on about and quickly tried to cover with a comment, "Something about his sister wasn't it?"

As they neared the cell block Nick started to wrap up his story. "Yeah, yeah, some drunken idiot insulted the bear's sister and then took a swing at him with a piture of beer." Shaking his head, Nick continues, "So what does Bruiser do? He just ripped the poor sod's tail clean off. One swift tug and pop!"

"Ouch," winced Rhinowitz.

"Now the idiot is screaming like a girl so Bruiser shoves the offender's tail right down his throat before beating him senseless. The doctors say the poor guy still might make it, but he's never gonna have a tail again… what a shame."

The three of them stopped in front of a large cell with bars on three walls and a single giant polar bear laying on a bench, wearing a dark black suit with a rip on one sleeve. The smell of expensive, imported beer coming off the large mammal was very strong. He raised his head when the two cops and their prisoner approached.

"You're not throwing me in there, are you?" asked Charles, nervously still shaking due to the withdrawals from his drug addiction.

Rhinowitz began to uncuff the nervous wolf before tossing him into the holding cell with the angry looking polar bear, but Nick shook his head and wagged his finger to indicate 'No, not yet.'

Once the wolf was tossed into the cell, the bear stood up and approached them and at the same time, kept an eye on the box Nick was holding in his paws. The wolf simply yelped in fear and backed away from the bear. He turned to face the bars and yelled at the two cops watching him and yelled, "Wait, officers! You can't leave me in here!" He fearfully glanced over his shoulder at the slow approach of the huge white bear. "This is police brutality! You can't do this to me!"

Nick just looked at Charles through the bars and said sadly, "It's out of my hands now. I'm sure we can find someone to let you out in the morning."

Nick and the rhino turned their backs on the cell and slowly started walking away down the hall. There was a loud clang as the bear threw the wolf against the cell bars. "No no no! Please don't rip off my tail Mr. Nice Bear!"

After turning a corner, Nick heard a loud scream coming from the cell they had just left.

"Alright I'll talk! I will tell you where the lab is! It's at 1221 Hammington Drive… south east Savannah Central! Right on the edge of Happy Town! That's where I was supposed to drop off the goods! Just pleeease don't let him take my precious tail!"

Nick and the rhino quickly returned to see a crying wolf pressed firmly against the bars with the vicious looking polar bear carefully pulling on the smaller mammal's tail.

"Would you mind repeating that in front of my partner?"

"Anything, just get me away from this maniac!"

The fox looked up at Rhinowitz, "Well, let's haul him back to the box again. Maybe he will be a lot more cooperative now." The wolf was nodding frantically in agreement.

After the rhino officer had hauled the crying wolf back down the hall and around the corner Nick held up the box of Big Donuts to the now drooling polar. "Thanks Kenny, you should be able to get out of here in a couple of hours."

"Thanks, Nick," the huge white bear replied.

"Oh, and the bartender was willing to drop the charges and damages, provided you stay out of his bar for awhile."

The bear had a very sad expression on his face then. "I'm really sorry about all that Nicky, it was my favorite place too. It's the only place this side of the siberian tundra to server that brand of vodka. You're not going to tell Mr Big about any of this, are you?"

"Of course not. Just keep your nose clean and stop picking fights with animals bigger than you, ok?" Nick replied, patting the bear on the shoulder. Or as far up the huge mammal as he could reach, which was much closer to the middle of his back.

Back upstairs at the officers cubicles, Nick and Judy finished up their reports on the robbery and possible drug case. Judy signed her last report with a wild flourish and exclaimed to her partner, "Yes, that's all done. Now all we have to do is wait for the security footage to come in and we can close this one up all nice and tight."

"Good job, Carrots! That was some pretty impressive grill work. How did you know he was going to ask for the water?"

"Well it was pretty obvious that he was strung out on something. Besides I sat there in the viewing room watching him slowly degrade for 30 minutes while you were out running errands, and buying stinky, fish covered donuts." She glared at him with the tip of her nose pointed right in his face, her ears pulled back. "Still, I could not have done this without you. I saw what you did back there, Slick Nick!"

Nick gave Judy a look of total shock, "Were you spying on me?"

With a slight wink at her partner Judy replies, "I did kind of peek… just a little."

A loud gasp escapes past the fox's lips, "And I thought you were just a poor, innocent, little bunny!"

"Well, Slick, it was really kind of cute watching you hustle that perp like that."

"Don't call me cute!" Nick winked back at Judy making a poor attempt at a bunny impression.

The rabbit snickered at the ginger fox saying, "Aww! Is the poor wittle foxy afwaid of being called 'cute' by the wittle bitty bunny?"

Placing one paw over his heart and looking completely mortified, Nick exclaimed, "Ma'am, I do have a reputation to uphold, you know!"

Judy couldn't contain her laughter and let out a loud snort. "It is kind of fun to watch you work sometimes. That is when you actually do work around here."

Nick leaned so close to the rabbit that their noses almost touched, "You know, you wouldn't have me any other way, sweetheart."

"Do I know that?" Judy replied, placing one finger to her lips, tapping slowly and lifting her eyes thoughtfully, "Yes, yes I do know that!"

From across the room Sergeant Higgins roared at them in disgust, "Get a room, why dontcha!"

They heard a snicker behind them. Both of them turned around at the same time and spotted Clawhauser holding a small package. "Oh, hey guys! This just came for you, I thought I would bring it up cuz I know how you were really waiting for it and everything, so I brought it as soon as it came in. And, well, here it is!"

Nick took the box from the excessively smiling cheetah. "Thanks, Spots."

Clawhauser just stood there watching them, both his paws pressed against his cheeks in joy.

Nick looked a bit baffled, "Um, we have to get back to work now, buddy."

"Oh right, right… Have fun, you two!" He giggled again heading back to his desk downstairs in the lobby.

Judy heard Higgins snort from across the room in his own cubicle.

"Well, let's open it and see what we got, eh Carrots?"

Judy still a bit dazed by what just happened, looked blankly at Nick, "Oh? Oh! Right! Let's do this!"

Nick opens the small box addressed to them and plugs in the videos.

The first one they decided to watch was the exterior footage, hoping to catch something of the missing weapon, or at least the fight between the security guard and the thief.

After several minutes of fast forwarding, a black and white police cruiser flew by the screen at warp speed. "Whoa! There we go! Back up a bit, Slick," Judy exclaimed.

"Ok, um… there!"

"Yeah there we are, now back up a bit more, to where the thief comes out the door."

Nick rewound the footage to just before the doors opened. On the screen they could both see the sliding doors open with the thief quickly pushing the cart through, only to be stopped by the guard grabbing the cart. The thief pushed hard enough to break the guard's grasp and started to run, but the guard jumped in front of the cart stopping the thief's escape.

"Nick, this angle is really bad. Can you find a better one?" Judy asked while pointing to the blurry images on the screen.

"Oh, sure, let me look." He flipped through the footage from several more cameras before stopping at one mounted on the side of the big building.

"This one looks like it is physically the closest to that door, but it's not pointing in the right direction."

"Wait, it's moving, Nick." Judy pointed out. The camera continued to move till the entrance was just barely in view before it panned back the other direction. "Darn! It didn't cover everything, and didn't stay in view long enough to make anything out." She sighed sadly.

"Let's try another one."

After several attempts, they settled on a view from a tall lamp post. It was high up and still too far away but had the best view of the fight at the entrance. With the camera chosen, they rewound the video and started the footage of the fight over from the beginning.

Again, the doors opened slowly, the guard grabbed the cart, the thief tried to run and was eventually cut off by the guard. Now they could see that the thief indeed did pull something large and black from his pocket and pointed it at the guard, who raised his hands and backed away from the cart.

"Can you zoom in and get a shot of that weapon, Slick?"

"I can try," the fox replied, as the screen zoomed in and both thief and weapon turned into an ugly grey blob. "Darn! The video is just too low-grade for this kind of work!"

"Well, let's just keep going and see what happens," the rabbit suggested.

Nick zoomed back out and they continued watching the fight.

The guard had both hands in the air and was slowly backing away from the thief and his cart. Then the thief rammed his cart into the gut of the guard, causing him to step back even further. The wolf did this several more times before the guard fell to the ground and the thief walked up to the guard sill pointing the black object at him and then made several quick jerky motions with it.

"Did he just shoot the guard?" Judy cried out in shock.

"Hang on, let's see that again," Nick said and rewound the footage back to before the shooting.

With the guard lying on the ground, and the thief once again pointing some kind of blurry black object at him, they started the playback again. Then, as before his hand jerked back three time in rapid succession.

"He did, he shot the guard!" Exclaimed Judy triumphantly.

"No, he is faking it! Watch." Nick then stepped away from the monitor and grabbed a stapler and took several more steps across the room turned and pointed the heavy office tool at his partner. "Pew, pew, pew!" Making hand motions exactly like those in the video and pretended to shoot the poor bunny.

"If you have spent any time at all at the firing range you should know that this is not how a real handgun operates. The weight is just off, and you would break your wrist handling a firearm like that!" he explained.

"Ok, so he is just pretending to shoot the guard? But why? To scare him off, then?"

"I don't know, Fluff. Maybe he was out of bullets. He was robbing the store after all."

"Ok, what does he do next?" Judy asked curiously, anxious to move on.

After shooting the guard, or pretending to shoot the guard, the thief began to run for the parking lot but stopped for a second and looked across the lot with an expression of fear on his muzzle. He then turns and throws the black object as hard as he can across the parking lot and over the fence on the east side of the lot.

Nick immediately picks up the office phone, letting the security footage continue to play on the screen. A few moments pass before he speaks, "Yes, Clawhauser, can you dispatch a patrol car back to Bearstine's Megamart A.S.A.P.? We have located the weapon. Yes, it's over the fence on the east side. Please send someone out there to collect it before some little kits find it. Also, find out who owns that lot and let them know that officers are on they way. Yes. Thank you very much." He hung up the phone just as the fox in the video climbed into the driver's seat of the cruiser and drove around the east side of the megamart.

"Ok, Clawhauser is sending someone to pick up the weapon. So, in about 30 minutes or less, we will know exactly what kind of gun it is and we'll be able to pull the perps prints off of it." Judy just looked at him in shock at his smooth efficient solution to the situation. He chuckled at her, "What? Were you worried you wouldn't get your bonus this month, darlin?"

"That's the third time today that you have surprised me Nick!" She said with a very serious sparkle in her eye.

"Well, I do try to make a habit of surprising dumb bun-Oww!" Nick cried as she fiercely punched him in the arm.

"Why don't we check the footage inside the store next? I'm curious to see this 'suspicious behavior' that caused the guard to call 911."

They plugged in the other video and sped it up till they saw the thief enter the store. He walked right past the guard who took one look at him and began tailing him around the store.

"Seriously!" Nick exclaimed, "that dam guard is profiling."

"What?"

"Look, Fluff," Nick pointed to the guard on the screen. "He is sneaking around, following the wolf like he is some kind of superhero, and not even doing a good job of it. He probably saw a scruffy, unkempt, predator and obviously thought he was up to no good. But look over here." He switched to a second camera where a short, well dressed mountain goat, that looked to be in fairly good shape, was walking towards the door with his hands in his pockets."

"What?"

"Um, you didn't see that Carrots?" So he rewound the footage of the ibex again until they could clearly see the goat walking through the allergy medication isle. Nick hit the slow motion button. As the ibex walked past the shelf a box falls on the floor, the mountain goat, being a good citizen, picks it up to put back on the shelf, but the box never actually makes it back. "That well dressed guy just pocketed those drugs while the dumb guard was playing sneaky sneaky with our wolf."

"You just never cease to amaze me, Slick!" the bunny beamed up at her partner.

"Let's just get back to the case at hand, ok?"

"Sure thing!"

The video continued to play as the two cops watched the security guard follow the wolf around the store as he filled his cart with seemingly random items. About halfway through his shopping list the wolf clearly spots the guard following him and he headed over to the kit's toy aisle and picked up a large black object then headed to the bathroom.

"Sweet Cheese and Crackers! Nick, is that what I think it is? Can you zoom in again?"

"Sure!" He fiddled with the controls again and was able to get a clearer picture than the outside cameras could.

"Yep, it's a toy gun," Judy cried, as she dragged her paw across her face.

After a few minutes in the restroom the wolf headed for the door with his cart full of goods.

"No no no! Don't tell me it's true! Not a toy! Not a TOY!" Judy was pounding her head on the desk with each cry.

The phone rang and Nick quickly put Clawhauser on speaker phone as Judy cried, "Clawhauser! Please say you have some good news for me!"

"Of course, Judy, I have great news! Snarlov and Fangmeyer found the weapon!"

"That's great! What kind of gun was it?"

"I think they said it was a Cub-liminator mark III automatic water pistol! Isn't it great?! That used to be one of my favorite toys! And they said it was full of antifreeze." There was a loud thud from behind Nick as something small hit the floor.

 **[A/N] I want to thank NightWolf0179 and Mister Smail for taking the time to review this chapter. It has been a lot of work to get everything just right. This was actually the first chapter I wrote in this story so it was filled with lots of mistakes and errors. Since chapters 2 and 3 both take place at roughly the same time I had originally put chapter 2 on top with a brief mention of the break in. But I eventually decided to break the dinner scene out into its own chapter and as suggested by another author ended up making the ransacked house another chapter on it's own. So now I am all caught up to what was originally meant to be the end of chapter 1 and going forward everything will all be new content and hopefully my writing will improve as I go.**

 **A lot of the ideas for this chapter came from the current television series Lethal Weapon. And I find that Nick sort of reminds me of Detective Riggs.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Coffee for Couples

Chapter 4 - Coffee for Couples

The large cape buffalo sauntered through the halls of the modern police station carrying a small bundle of files. His sharp, clean uniform was freshly pressed and as stiff as it's owner's temperament. Four stars gleamed on each side of his collar as he passed under the bright ceiling lights. A large brass badge slightly tarnished with age, rode proudly on his chest opposite a tag that read 'Chief Bogo' in a staunch and solid font.

A plump hippo stepped aside and crisply saluted as he passed, "Chief!"

Shuffling his files to the other arm, he returned the salute with his own brusk one, "Sergeant!" He then turned and entered a wide doorway into a large, open room filled with several desks and temporary room dividers. Only a few of the desks had officers sitting at them, studiously filing their own casework. It was to one of these desks where the dark furred buffalo was headed.

He immediately knew something was amiss when he heard the chipper voice of his dispatch officer yelling through the phone speakers near his destination.

"Hopps! Hopps!" Clawhauser cried over the phone!

His newest recruit, a small, red fox with a quick mind for detail and an endless propensity to annoy him, was seated at the desk, "She is fine Clawhauser. Thanks again for all the help. Oh, and can you remind Snarlov and Fangmeyer we still want to get prints off the gun." He hit the button on the phone, disabling the speaker before the cheetah could reply.

"Wilde!" Bogo said to the todd with as much spurious distaste as he could bring to bear. He really did like the diminutive officer and thought he might make a great detective someday, if only the fox would lose his sly, shifty and annoying attitude.

"Chief!" Nick looked up in surprise and almost jumped out of his chair, but caught himself at the last second, smoothed his ruffled fur and pretended like nothing had ever happened.

The buffalo smiled very slightly, only too happy to finally have a chance to vex the irritating fox. "What was that about?" he asked. The tall bull looked around for Nick's happy go lucky partner and not seeing her he asked in a louder, firmer tone, "Where is Officer Hopps?"

With a sly smirk, the uniformed fox turned around and looked down at the floor gesturing to a small, grey form behind him. At his toes lay a grey rabbit wearing a tight fitting blue jumpsuit and a standard issue, protective vest. She rolled back and forth on her back holding her paws to her face and mumbled or possibly chanted something incomprehensible to the large buffalo.

"Not a toy! Not a toy," he thought he heard coming from his smallest officer.

"Officer Hopps!" The sound of his great voice shook the room and rattled the windows in their frames.

Suddenly, a pair of amethyst eyes opened and the bunny was immediately on her feet with her arm up and holding an ideal, regulation salute. "Yes Sir!" she cried with the memory of all those surprise inspections from the academy still fresh in her mind. Judy Hopps stood ramrod straight and still as a statue, like the miniature image of what a perfect officer should be.

"Report, Officer Hopps!"

"Um, Sir?" she asked, still puzzled from her momentary breakdown.

"How is the robbery case going, Hopps?" the chief asked the rabbit curiously.

"Oh, yes! We're wrapping it up now. We reviewed the security footage and have found the weapon."

"That's great Hopps. I look forward to having your report on my desk as soon as you're finished with it." The buffalo's standard frown lessened slightly.

"Thanks, but sir there is a problem." Judy's ears drooped.

"What's the problem then?"

"The weapon sir. It was only a toy. A squirtgun actually!" she blurted out to the chief, sounding almost ashamed.

"So." Bogo replied.

"But now we have to drop the 'armed robbery' charges."

"No!" Stated the huge officer flatly. "Did it look like a real weapon Officer? Then in the eyes of the law, it was a real weapon." He continued to glare at the puzzled rabbit. "Let the courts decide what to do with it, that's their job, and it's our job to make the arrests and find the evidence. Not to decide who is innocent and who is guilty or who goes to prison and who goes free. Just keep serving and protecting like you always have."

"Thank you sir, I will try to remember that." said the bunny, with a little of her usual pep returned to her voice.

"Good!" he said as he turned and started to walk out of the room but stopped for a second in thoughtful contemplation. "Why don't you take your partner and go check out that address the perp gave you. I will authorize a regular stake out only for that location. Do not attempt to enter the premises under any circumstances. Do you understand me?" Both small officers nodded fervently. "I don't want any more exploded drug labs to deal with! Just find out if anyone is there, take some pictures and bring me some solid evidence. Then we will think about getting a search and seizure warrant. No heroics this time!".

"Yes Sir!" They both saluted simultaneously.

"Oh, and Hopps," the buffalo said slowly walking away.

"Sir?" she asked.

"Congratulations on writing all of those citations today. I think you may have broken a record for the most speeding tickets in one day, and before noon!" He then turned the corner and disappeared down the hall.

Nick stood there with his jaws wide open while Judy giggled at him. "Wait! Did I hear that right, did Chief Buffalo-butt just compliment you for breaking a record? That's a first, if I ever saw one."

"He is not really as tough as he looks sometimes." she assured him.

Later that afternoon, as the sun had barely begun to cast shadows on the streets of the city, Judy drove her cruiser down the main avenue. The streets were calm with only a few cars passing by, like the entire city was holding it's breath before the heavy traffic rush that would surely come at any moment.

Passing through an empty intersection Judy looked up to spot a couple of curious sticks tied and mounted to the roof of one the buildings on her right. The whole contraption looked like a crude campfire spit, like the ones her family used to use for roasting vegetables in the fall.

"Hey Nick!" She pointed up to the roof mounted rack, "isn't that where you used to melt Jumbo Pops?"

"Still is," the fox replied with an offhanded wave of his paw.

"What?" the rabbit roared slamming her fluffy toes down hard on the brake pedal, nearly bringing the car to a stop. The body of the red fox was propelled into the dash board with a loud thud. "I thought you gave up the pawpsicle trade when you joined the academy." The heartache altogether apparent in her sad, crystal-like eyes.

"Ouch! That hurt Carrots!" Nick grunted as he peeled himself off the hard, black dashboard.

"We talked about this Nick! You can't keep up your usual street hustling as a member of the ZPD. You have to stop!"

"I'm not. I mean I have. Stopped that is."

"Then please explain to me what you mean saying that rack up there is still melting Jumbo Pops?" she questioned the fox, her eyes hard and the nose twitching scrupulously.

"It's nothing." he said, trying to cover the mistake with his typical emotionless mask.

"Yeah, right! I don't believe that for one second. You're hiding something, Slick. Spill it, or so help me I am turning this car around and we are going back to explain it to the Chief!"

"Alright Carrots! No need to get violent," Nick said as he let out a big sigh and paused to collect his thoughts. "I thought Finnick might still be using it, or one of the others."

"Others?" her hard expression turning soft and curious.

"Oh, right, I forgot to mention, I heard Finnick got himself a new partner."

"Well, good for him."

"Yeah, and a grey vixen at that. Her name is Carla, I think. Their coloring matches so he looks more like her kit than he ever did with me."

"That's very cool! Oh, and that reminds me, you've never told me how you and him met. I would just love to hear that story."

"Yeah, not much to tell, and it's not very exciting, Fluff."

"You may as well get started. We're probably going to have a long wait staking out this place. So you can tell me all about it." she said with a sweet smirk, her small pink nose almost touching his big black one.

"Look out Hopps!" Nick screamed in fear, suddenly grabbing the wheel and pulling hard causing the cruiser to jump up onto the curb at the side of the road. A tall yellow and brown spotted Zooyota Zebrus narrowly missed scraping Judy's side of the cruiser as she carefully brought the car safely to a stop. The Zebrus continued down the road behind them, swerving back and forth between both sides of the street.

Judy quickly flipped her car around to speed after the out of control vehicle while her foxy partner activated the siren and flashers, then called it in to the dispatch. "Officer Wilde and Hopps in pursuit of an out of control Zebrus heading north on Hammington Drive, possible DWI, over."

"Roger that, Wilde, Hopps," came back the voice of the dispatch officer over the radio, "Do you need assistance?"

"No, I think we can handle one drunk driver, dispatch. We'll keep you advised if the situation escalates," replied the fox as he hung the mic back on it's clip next to the radio.

The giraffe sized car was traveling well under the speed limit but was obviously out of control as it kept crossing over the center line like a wobbly child riding a bicycle for the first time. With a loud screech of tires, honking horns, and yelled curses from the other drivers it ran through a red light and continued up a small incline.

Luckily the wild car had yet to hit anyone, or anything as Judy followed closely behind. The other drivers were careful enough to avoid such a large, slow-moving vehicle and the sirens helped to alert everyone to the oncoming trouble. Several pedestrians even had second thoughts before entering the crosswalk.

After sliding through the next intersection, the driver seem to suddenly notice the police car behind him, like he was waking from a daze, and finally pulled over to the curb.

Judy parked directly behind the giraffe's car, turned off the siren and ran the the plates. Once she determined the car wasn't stolen and checked the current owner's record, she climbed out and approached the driver's side door cautiously, right paw on her weapon.

When she arrived at the car door, a long neck stuck through the window and looked down at the small rabbit. "Hello officer, can I help you?" the giraffe said sluggishly before he started sneezing.

"Yes! Can you explain the reason for your reckless driving?" Judy nearly had to yell up at the driver in order to be heard.

"I am so sorry officer, I don't really know what happened."

"You were swerving all over the road, ran through two red lights, nearly hit me and several other cars, and almost ran over numerous pedestrians! I would love to hear your reasons sir!" she said with utter contempt.

The giraffe sneezed again before giving the diminutive officer his explanation. "You see officer, I've had this cold all day, so I took some extra decongestants at work before the boss sent me home to get some rest. They make me sleepy you know, the pills. I think I might have accidentally dozed off. I am really very sorry sir, um ma'am." His voice was thick and dopey, he was obviously too dosed to drive safely.

"I am going to need to see your license, proof of insurance, and registration, sir."

It took several moments for the larger mammal to collect his papers and hand them over to the tiny rabbit.

Taking the large pieces of paper, Judy looked back at the driver with concern on her face, "Please shut off the engine and wait here for us to figure out what we're going to do with you."

Stuttering, the giraffe asked with a bit of fear in his voice, "Wh-what are you going to do with me?"

"Well if everything checks out, we will probably just call a Zuber to come pick you up. For now please sit tight and wait for me to process these papers."

"Uh, thank you officer I really hope we can work this out," he said as she turned and walked back to her car.

Back in the police cruiser, Judy was entering all of the giraffe's information into the computer while Nick asked her curiously, "So what was all that about?"

"Definitely a DUI. He claims that cold meds made him sleepy, but, I am not entirely sure. He would have had to have downed the entire box to put him out like that."

"He could have been up all night and had a rough day at work too." replied the fox.

"Yeah, but I don't know. Well, he checks out. All clean!" She said as the computer pulled up the giraffe's records; name: Jeremy Flanner / age: 35 / no recent arrests or warrants. "Can you hush for a bit while I fill out these tickets?"

"Sure thing, anything for you, Fluff. I will just check furbook for any good horror flicks. I want to have something good for movie night this week."

A bright smile filled her big, bunny eyes. She didn't want him to know that she always looked forward to movie nights with the fox, so she kept her eyes focused on filling out the paperwork.

The driver of the tall, yellow Zebrus was too quiet when she returned with the fully filled out citations.

As she approached cautiously, she saw the giraffe's long neck sticking out the driver side window and his head was tilted back. She also thought she could hear the sound of snoring. Looking up there was a long red streak down the side of the door. "Was that there last time?" she thought.

"Sir!" She called up to the driver. "Mr Flanner! Wake up Mr Flanner!" She tried shaking the car to no avail.

It was then that something fell from above, leaving another red streak on the side of the yellow car. The driver's nose was bleeding, and it started coming down like rain.

Judy ran back to her cruiser, yelling fiercely at her partner, "Nick! Call the medics STAT! We have a possible OD, and tell them to bring a bus for large mammals." She then returned to the other car to try and wake the sleeping and bleeding driver.

Several minutes passed before the paramedics arrived and hauled the sleeping giraffe out of his car. They checked his vitals and loaded him into the back of the ambulance for further care. A tall female camel spoke with the two tiny officers, "His vitals seem stable. Although there appear to be high amount of drugs in his system, it also doesn't seem to be an overdose per se'. There was this small bag of pills in his right, front pocket that we thought you should know about. They look like your typical street drugs."

Judy took the plastic pouch and marked it as evidence, then let the camel continue, "We're not entirely sure yet why he is bleeding or won't wake up but will get him to Zootopia General and have the doctors there look at him." She climbed back into the ambulance before the medics rushed the patient off to the hospital.

The tow truck arrived shortly after the ambulance left, and hauled the large vehicle away to some impound lot on the other side of town that the poor driver was going to have to spend hours and hours in a cab searching for before they manage to find it, and costing him hundreds in fees.

Judy shook her head and climbed back into the cruiser and turned to Nick. "Hey, did you find any good movies?"

"Absolutely, Carrots. I found the perfect one, but it's a surprise so don't ask," he said pretending to hide the evil smirk on his muzzle.

"Oh, alright…" Judy said turning the cruiser around to head back the way they were going before they almost got hit. "Let's see if we can find the address where Mr. Longtooth said he was getting his drugs."

"I have never been a fan of long stakeouts, so hopefully we can make this quick."

"The scruffy wolf also said the dealer, this so called 'Doc' was a mountain goat who always wore a brown business suit under his lab coat."

"We here in the city call them an Ibex!" Nick said, mimicking an upper class, snooty tone.

Judy giggled warmly at this, "Ok, ok. He's an Ibex then. Don't they usually have huge horns that look sort of like a crescent moon?"

"Yep! That's them, Fluff! And they always have such a snobbish attitude, it always sets my ears on edge whenever I get around one."

"Are they all rich?" the rabbit asked curiously.

"Naw, they just act so high and mighty all the time, like they are always looking down at you from a marble pedestal." Nick said, with more than a little resentment.

Several minutes later, they were nearing the south end of Savanna Central, close to the edge of the Sahara district. The air was always hot and dry here with little sand flurries blowing through the streets.

"We should be getting close to the spot now." Nick pointed out at the same time Judy's phone rang.

She pulled over in front of an old abandoned tailor shop to answer the call, since she recognized the Chief's ring tone. "What is it Chief?" she said putting him on speaker.

"Hopps!" the Chief bellowed through the phone.

"Yes sir!" she exclaimed.

"Officer Hopps. You and Wilde need to get over to the Zootopia General Hospital immediately."

"Ok, Chief, but we just arrived at the stakeout location. Can't this wait?" the rabbit said pleading with her boss.

"No, Hopps! They called here looking for you two and said it was very urgent that you get to the hospital as soon as mammally possible! All they would tell me is there is some kind of emergency, regarding the giraffe they brought in an hour ago. Oh, and they also said not to touch anyone either."

"What is going on Chief?" Nick leaned over and spoke loudly into Judy's phone.

"I don't have any details, Wilde. Take those annoying questions to the Hospital and ask the doctors there!" The buffalo's voice continued to get louder to the fox's painful surprise.

"Yes Chief! We're on our way!" the bunny exclaimed as she turned the cruiser around and once again, headed north up Hammington Drive.

"Oh, and Hopps... Ask for a Dr. Mapleburg when you get there." Bogo said and ended the call abruptly.

When they arrived at the hospital, they were ushered into one of the smaller examination rooms right off of the main ER and told that Dr. Mapleburg would be with them shortly. Several minutes passed with Judy reading one of the convenient magazines laying on a nearby table, and Nick played with his phone.

The doctor eventually arrived. He was a medium sized honey badger, wearing scrubs, latex gloves and a mask. Entering the room he lowered the medical mask and exclaimed, "Oh good you are here. We're going to need to give you both a shot of antibiotics, but first I should probably explain the situation."

"What is going on doctor?" the bunny asked with a slight hint of fear in her voice.

"The giraffe you pulled over this afternoon, uhm, uh, Mr Jeremy Flanner, is sick, very sick. And it's not just your everyday cold either. We ran his blood work and it came back literally swarming with a virus I have never seen before, and we have no idea what it is doing to him." As the doctor continued to speak, a look of sheer horror slowly crossed Judy's face until she looked like she was in a walking dead movie. "I do need to ask if either of you came into physical contact with Mr Flanner, or touched any fluids from him. I heard he had a bloody nose when they brought him in, so I need to know if you touched any of it."

"He was sneezing a lot when I questioned him, and I also touched his driver's license and other papers when I wrote up his traffic tickets." the small rabbit explained softly.

"Did he actually sneeze on you, Officer Hopps?" the badger asked, almost pleadingly.

"I… I don't think so," Judy stuttered, her hands beginning to shake while Nick remained calmly standing in a corner, yet it was obvious he was trying to stay as far away from this doctor as he could.

"Please stay calm ma'am. We don't know how contagious these little buggers are so as a precaution, we would like to give the two of you some antibiotics… just as a precaution." A male hyena, dressed as a nurse, walked in carrying two clipboards and handed one to each of the officers. "We will of course, need you to fill out these forms first, and please make sure to list any allergies to antibiotics you may have. And then on the back, could you list everyone you came into contact with between now and when you pulled over Mr. Flanner?"

"Only the tow truck driver and maybe the paramedics who came to pick up the giraffe."

"We'll need to contact him as well, so if you could list his information, that would be most helpful. Now, I will return once you have those forms filled out and then we will see about getting the two of you back out on those streets." the badger said cheerfully, and literally skipped out of the small room.

Once the paperwork was done, the badger eventually returned with two syringes containing a clear liquid. "Now, I am going to need to inject this into your arms, so please roll up those sleeves and we'll have you out of here in no time."

After the contents of both syringes were administered, the doctor had one final word of warning before letting them go. "This should take a few hours to kick in and you might feel a little nauseous for a while or have a sore throat tomorrow, but it shouldn't be anything to worry about and will pass in a day or two. And, if you experience any unusual symptoms please give me a call. So I think both of you are ready to return to your jobs. Good luck." He waved and walked cheerfully out of the room.

"Well, that was altogether strange!" Nick exclaimed to his fluffy, tall-eared partner.

For the third time in one day the fox and rabbit drove their cruiser down Hammington Drive, heading towards the address the scruffy, strung-out wolf gave them earlier that day. Long shadows now stretched across the streets, reaching like dark fingers ready to engulf the cars parked on the far side.

The fox was silent the entire time they drove back from the hospital until they passed the spot where the jumbo pop melting rack still stood mounted on the roof. "Hey, Carrots."

A simple "hmm?" escaped the rabbit holding the steering wheel with her eyes intent on the road, wanting to avoid any further traffic incidents.

Turning to face his partner Nick continued to share his unclear suspicions, "I have been thinking, this is an awful lucky coincidence."

"Huh? What's that?"

Nick pulled out the evidence bag with the drugs they found on the unconscious giraffe. "Don't you find it a little too convenient that on the way to stake out this drug lab, we happen to pull over a giraffe who is not only stoned, but also carrying the exact kind of drugs we are looking for?"

Judy scoffed at his suspicions and shook her head. "What? You think someone just gave him to us? And maybe they should have wrapped the car up in a pretty red bow?"

"Yeah, like maybe it was a deliberate distraction?"

"Nick! That is some seriously crazy fox talk right there. If you keep thinking like that, somebody is going to get hurt!" She slowed the cruiser as they once again passed the target address and looked for a good place to park the cruiser and wait. "It was nothing more than a random coincidence, but if it makes you feel better, I will make sure to keep an eye out for any more sleep driving mammals."

They were in a very old and rundown district that may have once been lively, filled with busy little shops lining the street, but everything had been boarded up and abandoned years ago. Some mammals still lived in the area but most were either criminals or homeless, this was the perfect place to set up a drug lab. It wasn't the worst part of town, not like the ghettos of Happytown, it was more of a case where no one cared.

Someone did still care, a little. The streets were kept clean and a few businesses kept their doors open only a few blocks away, and the local chapel continued to help those in need wherever possible.

The building they pulled in front of had once been some kind of tailor shop. One large broken sign, missing most of the letters, read "LDE & S… TAILO… G", while other smaller signs offered hand made suits and various formal wear. Every window was boarded up and almost every surface was covered with the flyers and bulletins from days long past.

"Ok Fluff! How about in that alley between those boarded up shops?" The fox pointed at a narrow but relatively clean alley across the street. "It's wide enough for us to park plus it provides a clear view of the street and the alley behind the building. That way we can easily spot anyone coming or going!"

"Great idea Slick!" she exclaimed punching him in the arm. "That's why I bring you along!"

"Oh, now I get it!" he said, his voice filled with hurt and disappointment. "And I thought you liked my foxy eyes."

Looking into his dark emerald pools, she couldn't help but feel somehow drawn into them. "I do Nick," she whispered softly, but coughed suddenly when her little pink nose bumped into his larger black one. Coughing again much louder this time, she carefully backed the cruiser into the small alley. "Of course you're much better at spotting these kind of sneaky things than I am. You are a sly fox after all!"

"Dumb Bunny," was his only reply.

The sun set and the hours passed uneventfully with Nick changing the radio station after every other song, and Judy sipped a carrot latte she had picked up from the hospital's coffee shop and cafe.

"It sure has been one long, crazy day." the rabbit finally said after the third song Nick had skipped in less than a minute. The radio was getting to be very repetitive at this hour.

"Yeah, let's hope it doesn't get any crazier, Fluff."

"I can agree with that! Two long nights in a row, and I am really looking forward to a day off tomorrow."

"So, got any big plans?"

"Oh, yeah, big big plans Nick!" she exclaimed sarcastically.

"Care to indulge this poor fox then?" the todd asked and turned off the radio.

"Sure, why not." she agreed chuckling. "I will probably just spend most of the day off resting as far away from the ZDP as mammally possible. Then there are a ton of chores I need to get done and my fridge is empty."

"Wow, sounds exciting!" he said under his breath. "If your fridge is empty you can always come over to my place, Carrots!"

"Yeah, but no thanks, Slick. I've seen your cooking, many times." His offer to cook warmed her heart and made her laugh out loud. "Besides, I should put something healthy in my own fridge for once. It's all been left over, frozen junk. Plus we keep eating out at cheap diners and fast food joints."

"What!? Don't tell me you didn't like Nelly's!"

She gave him another quick punch on the shoulder, chuckling and then just as suddenly rested her head on the spot she had hit. "So what are your plans then? Since I told you mine it's only fair that you share."

"You can't hustle this hustler, sweetheart! But fine, I will tell you my plans for tomorrow. As you say it's only fair." he said reaching out to rub one of her long ears with his paw. "Finnick called me the other day and wanted to hang out. It was before I joined the academy since we last did anything together, so I let him know when my next day off is. He probably wants to just get drunk at the bar or something along those lines, but I still I owe him a lot. We were partners for such a long time..." His voice drifted off thoughtfully.

Judy didn't say anything for several minutes before she spoke again asking him to elaborate. "How did you two meet?"

"Oh, wow Carrots. It's been forever, and I can hardly remember much of that day anymore!"

"I am sure you can remember something..." she let the last bit hang in the air like a question on a cozy, old coat rack.

"Well, it was shortly after the incident with the Ranger Scouts. I was still feeling very angry at the world. He was a few years older than me and saw the hurt and anguish I was feeling and knew exactly what it meant." He suddenly sat up straight and covered his eyes as the bright glare of headlights flashed through the front window of the cruiser.

"What's the matter Nick?" her head bouncing off the back of the seat.

"I think someone is coming!" he whispered excitedly with his paw pointed at a dark SUV that pulled over and stopped a block up the street from where they were hiding.

"Is it our guy?" the rabbit asked scooting back onto her side of the car and tried to see past the glare of the headlights.

"Well, it is dark, and I can't see anyone inside, but at least the headlights aren't pointed right into my eyeballs anymore." The SUV only parked for a few moments before it turned around and headed back down the street. Turning to his partner the fox said, "That was very suspicious! Maybe we should follow them."

"Not unless you saw our goat in the driver seat."

"No, but I did catch the license plate as they were turning around. Well partially anyways. It started with 'JR3', but I couldn't make out the rest." he explained. "I still think we should go after them."

"Sorry, Nick." Judy said firmly. "We're going to wait right here until something happens with that building," she pointed across the street at the old shop they were watching, "that will facilitate Bogo getting us a search and seizure warrant. And right now, a suspicious looking car driving by isn't enough evidence."

"Ok, Officer By-The-Book! As you command!" The medium sized fox attempted to bow humbly at the waste inside the slightly cramped cabin of their cruiser, and the flash on Judy's camera went off accidently.

"Hey, Carrots! I thought we were supposed to be hiding? That flash could have revealed our position to every homeless mammal for the next 3 blocks!" the fox exclaimed jumping at her and trying to grab the sleek new iCarrot from the tiny rabbit's grasp as the car filled with wild giggles and laughter.

And as Nick predicted, three old, drunk and unkempt mammals looked up from their barrel of burning newspaper to see what all the commotion was about. "Young whipper-snappers," one of them scoffed as he passed a large brown bottle, wrapped in a paper bag to the mammal on his left.

Sometime during the long shift Judy started to doze off, the caffeine from her latte having worn off hours ago. She laid her head down in a familiar field of warm orange flowers under a dark blue sky.

There was a smoothly rising hill in front of her, like the one she and her siblings used to climb in the summer, when they were kits. As she turned around she could make out a big tractor barn in the distance, along with several silos and a lone tree far to one side, marking where the vegetable booth was. These sights filled her with joy that she was home, back on her family's farm in Bunny Burrow!

Judy once again looked up the hill in front of her and noticed another mammal standing near the crest. It was another rabbit, a very familiar rabbit, wearing a bright sun dress covered with images of carrots in bloom. She began to run up the hill towards the other rabbit, but her feet felt heavy and sluggish, and the hill was so very steep.

A five year old Judy struggled to climb the hill behind her family's farm while trying to keep the hem of her new dress from getting dirty. "Mama wouldn't want me staining my new dress," she thought, "but Jenny is waiting for me."

"Jenny, Jenny! Wait up, Jenny!" she cried to the other rabbit.

The other young doe turned to see her handsome sister and littermate calling after her, so she took two steps down the hill to let Judy catch up. Within moments they were in each other's arms laughing and giggling and dancing through the orange flowers under the dark blue sky. Judy looked up into the vast starry night to see a brass streak cross overhead.

"Look! Look, Jen. Isn't it wonderful?"

"Yes, indeed," said Jennifer who was suddenly much older than Judy. "Now, close your eyes, and make a wish."

So the young Judy closed both of her eyes and squeezed her sister's paws and skipped in a circle three times before she opened them asking, "What did you wish for?" But the other bunny wasn't there, and she was no longer standing on the orange hill...

This place was dark... very dark. Judy was back in the city and once again dressed in her ZPD uniform. She was standing in the middle of a city street near the Rainforest District, she knew it was near the rainforest because there were trees, lots and lots of trees. The trees were very dark and foreboding, and she had the eerie feeling they were watching her.

The trees were watching her, she could see the burning orange eyes glaring at her hungrily. They were only a pair of slits in the darkness, but they slowly grew larger, and larger, as did the fear rising in her stomach.

When she didn't think those burning eyes could get any bigger, a white line appeared in the dark space below them and quickly formed into a set of razor sharp teeth. The teeth snapped at her, and Judy ran!

She ran as fast as her little bunny legs could carry her, but her skirt kept getting in the way! Looking down, she saw that once again she was wearing the pretty dress her mom gave her when she was five, but now, it was torn and soiled and wrapped around her legs like a coiled viper. The eyes were getting closer and she had to get away but the tangled dress left her only able to crawl across the pavement.

A siren rang out across the dark streets of the city with a triumphant call to arms, but those burning hungry eyes would not be swayed, and the folds of her skirt would not loosen, she remained trapped, awaiting her doom.

"Carrots!" a voice called out from the trees, shattering the darkness. Along with the voice, there was a warm, comforting scent that made her feel at home. Not the distant home back in Bunny Burrow, but something much closer and more immediate. Surrounded by the rich musky scent, she felt safe, like this is where she belonged.

"Carrots! Wake up!" Nick's voice, and the sound of the alarm she had set on her phone banished all memory of the dream. She sat up, fully awake when she noticed her surroundings and remembered where she was.

"How long was I out?" the rabbit asked her partner rubbing the last grains of the nap from her purple eyes.

"Only a couple of hours. The sun is only barely starting to show now." He pointed between the nearby buildings to a faint line of grey on the horizon.

"Oh, Nick! Why didn't you wake me?"

He shrugged looking back at her, "You were just so darn c-"

"Don't even say it, Slick!" Her sleepy expression quickly turned to anger as he tried to get away with the 'C' word. "Not today you don't"

"Fine, I won't say how I didn't want to wake the beautiful bunny laying next to me because I felt she needed all the sleep she could get for all those big plans she has today." Nick chided feigning total innocence, and holding up his right paw as a perfect example of a Junior Ranger Scout.

The glare she gave him was so filled with unyielding fury, that it may have rivaled the beam of morning sunlight creeping through the car window between them.

With their eye contact broken Judy turned back to the steering wheel and said, "Let's get some coffee shall we?"

"Great idea, Carrots!"

Before she could put the car into gear, Clawhauser's voice chimed in over the radio. "Officers Hopps, Wilde. Return to base. Chief wants to see you in his office."

"Sure thing, Spots!" Nick replied to the dispatch officer before turning back to his fluffy grey partner. "How about we get that coffee first, and let's make it a double?"

Back in Bogo's office, the two diminutive officers sat together in one of the large chairs that was way too big for either of them. "So how did it go?" The eight foot tall buffalo asked glaring down at his smallest officers.

"Mostly uneventful, Sir!" The rabbit proclaimed taking a small sip from her tiny cup of coffee.

"And Wilde? Did you happen to see anything with that night vision you're always so proud of?" The Chief asked trying his best not to sound overly grumpy since his morning coffee had yet to kick in.

"No, Sir. No one entered or exited the premises last night while we were there." Replied the fox who was paying more attention to the foam in his coffee cup than to his boss.

"We did spot a vehicle that stopped about a block away before turning around." Judy piped up. "But no one else came near the building"

"Ok, as I suspected, this has turned out to be a false lead." The scowl on Bogo's brow grew even darker as he leaned over the desk to look down on the two officers who had recently pulled an all nighter. "I am calling you off this case as of now. You have both been up for over 24 hours and I am not going to authorize anymore overtime." Both the fox and the rabbit raised their muzzles to object but the buffalo cut them off with a wave of his hoof. "Now unless either of you can bring me hard proof someone is either dealing or cooking drugs in that building, then we are done here. And, once I get your full report on my desk, you can both take the rest of the day off. Dismissed!" His tone of finality left no room for further questions.

Judy was so tired after the meeting with the Chief that she almost passed out on the stairs and Nick had to half drag, half carry her to their desk. Once there she nearly downed half of her small order of coffee in one gulp before she set her mind to the task of describing the mostly uneventful stake out, being sure to leave out all the parts where Nick was being a goof.

Roughly an hour later, and not even close to finishing all the forms needed for their reports, Clawhauser walked through the large room filled with cubicles and spotted Wolford standing in the middle of the walkway with his head turned to the side in puzzlement. "What'cha doing, Wolford?" he asked, confused by the large, grey wolf's odd expression.

The wolf pointed at the desk across the room, where a very sleepy fox and rabbit sat filling out paperwork. "Just watch," he said.

As the large wolf and plump cheetah watched, the couple scribbling on various pieces of paper, the fox eventually reached out to grab a large cup of coffee sitting on the desk between them. He took a sip and placed it back on the desk where it had been. Then a few moments later the rabbit reached for the same cup, her paws shook from the lack of sleep, took a sip before putting it back where she found it.

"Aww! That's sooooo cute!" The cheetah squealed quietly with his large paws bunched up under his poofy cheeks. He fumbled with an armload of paperwork to grab his cell phone for some quick, candid snapshots. Just as he had the phone at the ready, Wolford shook his arm violently.

Both the fox and the rabbit had reached for the paper cup at the same time, and missed. They had managed to grab each other's paw instead of the much needed coffee, and were pulling on them completely unaware of what had happened. The feline's squeal of joy that followed this entanglement could be heard halfway across the precinct!

 **[A/N] Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this little story! It is well over 1000 views and still growing :D**


	5. Chapter 5 - Insatiable Lounge Monster

Chapter 5 - Insatiable Lounge Monster

It was a dark and stormy night. A fierce wind howled through the streets of Zootopia like a savage lion on the prowl, while sheets of rain covered the city in a wet blanket. The sudden summer storm that had blown in off the coast caught most mammals off guard, forcing them to take shelter where they could, and cancelling their dates and reservations for sweeter, warmer evenings.

Thunder crashed outside the little, one bedroom apartment, causing the lights to flicker and cast sinister shadows around the room. One such crash was preceded by an ominous knock at the door, causing the mammal waiting inside to jump out of his fur. He slowly rose from the couch and headed to his front door.

A streak of lightning cut through the windows followed immediately by another crash of thunder and the knocking at the door became more urgent, as if a furious beast were trying to break it down. In fact it almost sounded like small devils were trying to kick his door in.

The tall, orange fox cautiously unbolted the locks and peeked out his door before it was suddenly flung from his grasp by a powerful kick. Just as suddenly as the door was ripped from his sore paws, another crash from the storm outside caused the lights in the entire complex to flicker and go dark. He was alone, in the dark, with whatever horrible creature now lurked inside his front door.

He could hear the creature breathing next to him. It's labored breath was filled with all the hate and malice of a furious she-bear who's cubs were in danger. The beast's eyes shone in that dark room like two bright jewels hovering before him. And the ravenous snarl that came from it's terrible jaws sent shivers through the todd's bones and left him filled with dread.

"Nick. Will you let me in already? Or are you going to just stand there with that dumb look on your muzzle?"

Slowly, the lights in the complex came back on. First in the hallway outside. Then the lamps in his room flickered and returned to life, revealing the creature that had kicked open his door. Standing in his doorway was an angry and extremely drenched rabbit!

Judy was literally soaked to the skin! She had been caught in the storm wearing her pink plaid shirt and a comfortable pair of faded blue jeans, both of which were sopping wet and left a small puddle on the floor. In her arms was a large, wet bag filled with several white boxes of food from the nearby noodle take-out shop along with two pairs of chopsticks.

"Of course, Carrots. Please, come in." Nick said with a sweeping motion of his arms, leading her into his warm and comfortable abode. He quickly took the bag from her dripping wet arms, and placed it on his tiny kitchen table. "You look miserable, Carrots. What happened?"

"You know exactly what happened, Dumb Fox! And don't give me that stupid, innocent look!" she said, the rage still thick in her voice. "I was on my way over when the storm hit! I was right outside the Speedy Panda store, so I thought I would step in and order us some noodles. I waited for the rain to ease up a bit before trying to make a mad dash here, but got caught in a another downpour about a block away. So, I'm not only late, but also very wet and miserable. I really just want to call this whole thing off, but going home now is going to be even worse." The tears starting to well up in her eyes, replacing their previous rage.

The fox silently listened to her explanation. When she neared the end, he reached out and gave her a warm hug before her tears could make another wet puddle on his floor. "All you bunnies, are sooo emotional." She clung to him for several minutes and cried into his shirt.

With his arms still loosely wrapped around her hips, he looked down into her amethyst eyes to say, "If I was a kind and generous mammal, I would offer a poor, drenched bunny something warm to wear and a cozy couch to sleep on while waiting out this terrible storm…"

"Nick, I couldn't!" she declared, the insides of her ears turning three shades of pink.

"Well, I am certainly not letting you anywhere near my new couch completely soaked like that!"

"Wait, I thought you said you got it at the Goodwill Store?"

"It's still 'new' to me. And, I am not going to let you stay here cold and soaking wet. You will end up getting sick, and it will be all my fault. I am not having a sick bunny on my hands, no ma'am!"

"Fine. Show me what you have then," she said, sticking out her tiny, pink tongue.

"Follow me, Mademoiselle, to the exclusive wardrobe De la Nicholi," he said bowing at the waist with a great amount of flourish, his left arm extended in the direction of his bedroom. Judy proceeded down the short hallway, leaving soggy pawprints behind her and the sounds of soft giggling.

He quickly followed her to the back room where he turned on a lamp next to the bed and opened the closet doors. His closet contained a few shirts and two pairs of pants along with a crisp, clean ZPD uniform. He was a simple mammal, and didn't need a large variety of clothing.

When he turned around from showing off his simple wardrobe, his jaw nearly dropped to the floor at the gorgeous sight before him. Judy either didn't realize he was still there or had not bothered to wait for him to leave before she chose to disrobe. Her pink shirt was fully unbuttoned to expose the lacy bra covering her ample bosom as it quickly slid down her smooth grey shoulders.

The shock he felt at seeing his best friend and partner in such a state of undress, left his mind numb and his body unable to move, while he watched her continue. And she was far from finished, standing there in the dim lamp light next to his meager closet.

Next she loosened the button on her jeans and slowly slid the zipper down revealing the bright orange panties beneath. Turning around she began to wiggle her hips back and forth seductively trying to slip out of her now shrunken wet jeans. Nick could only drool and stare at her tight bunny rump and the soft poofy cottontail that she teasingly wagged at him.

Then the shapley rabbit, clothed only in her alluring small clothes, turned to her best friend holding up a pair of dripping wet garments. "Can you be so kind and hang these up in the washroom to dry?"

He only stared at her blankly, his mind having gone somewhere far away!

"Nick!" she exclaimed and shoved the wet cloths into his arms.

"Wha…" The cold, wet feeling woke him from his daze.

"Hang those up so they can dry, please," she requested, as she turned back around completely ignoring the fox. Wagging her soft tail the rabbit began to thumb through the fox's meager wardrobe for something clean and dry to wear.

"Sure thing, I will get right on that."

Finally coming to his senses, and his body free of it's temporary paralysis, he left the room carrying her wet, discarded cloths. In the bathroom, he decided that it would be best to hang her still dripping shirt and jeans in the shower, where they could dry without making a mess all over the floor.

Stepping into the hall, he turned to look at the bedroom door and was once again filled with unfamiliar emotions. The only thought on his mind was to rush in there and hold the little bunny in his arms, but he slowly turned and walked back to the living room.

The central room of Nick's apartment was spacious for such a small room. There was a single light-blue couch with a soft, plush cover and a couple of round throw pillows. A single lamp stood at one end of the couch, and hanging on the opposite wall was a medium sized flat screen television. The room itself was tidy, like it had been cleaned only moments before.

Nick walked over to the television and picked up a small, black box containing a single video disk, which he promptly popped into the player. "She is going to love this," he said quietly to himself.

Once the video was set in the player and the main menu shown on the screen. He went to his open kitchen and grabbed the soggy bag of food off the small dining table. He proceeded to remove the little, white boxes from the bag and set them on the coffee table in front of the couch before Judy could return.

"Nick, how do I look?" said the bunny wearing one of his green shirts. It was so long it came down past her knees. "Do you like it?" she asked while spinning around causing the hem to lift and revealed her bare, graceful legs.

His mind once again drifted back into the bedroom where he imagined his eyes following each of her soft, grey curves. He had almost stopped breathing at the sight of her.

"Nick!" she cried with frustration when he didn't reply. "What has gotten into you?"

Lost in his own day dream, he stayed silent for several moments longer.

"I get it. If you don't like it, just say so!" she exclaimed fiercely, the rage slowly returning to her eyes as she turned to leave the room.

"Wait. Carrots." his voice cracked slightly as he stood up and tried to reach for her. "Please, do that turn again."

"What?" she asked, now very puzzled at the fox's strange behavior.

"I… I liked the way you made it twirl." he said bashfully.

"Oh, so you do like it?" she asked, with a slight giggle as she swished his long shirt around her knees.

"It's not bad, Fluff." He said trying to hide blush rising in his cheeks, then gestured to the array of boxes spread out before him. "I have dinner all set up, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would come join me. Plus, I'm dying to get this movie started."

"Yes!" hollered the exuberant rabbit as she turned and bounded across the room and sat on the far end of the couch opposite of Nick. "I have been waiting all week to find out what this secret movie is that you've picked."

"That's why it's a secret, Dumb Bunny."

"Sly Fox!" she punched him in the shoulder and picked up her pair of chopsticks. "But now, it's movie time so you can tell me what this big secret is!"

"Ok, fine." He walked over to the TV and picked up the movie case to read the cover with a flourish. "For tonight's entertainment may, I present to you the tale of the junior reporter Natalie Green, who is sent to a sleepy little village to investigate reports of savage mammal attacks. She will soon discover, to her own peril, why all the villagers hid in the cellars and lock their doors when the moon comes out!" Bowing he puts the cover back down and returns to his seat.

"Very nice," the bunny said clapping her hands at his performance, "but what is the name of this wonderful sounding film?"

"Um, it's name." the fox stutters for a second. "It's, called ah, um. Has… Hazzen… Hasfen Volts, or something like that, it's a foreign film."

"Don't you mean Hassenvoles?" she asked, trying to hold back the snicker as he clearly butchered the pronunciation. "It means rabbit wolf silly. It's about a cursed rabbit who turns into a ravenous monster under the light of the full moon. My older siblings told me about it when I was little, when they would try to scare me, but I have never seen it myself. I have always wanted to though, this was a really great choice!"

"That reminds me, Carrots, you have never told me much about your family."

"There isn't that much to tell," the rabbit shrugged and opened her first box of noodles.

"Aww, come on, Fluff. I do know you came from a big family. With all those bunnies running around, there has to be tons of good stories to tell." he said pleadingly. Putting all of his foxy charms into a single look, he turned to her and said, "Judy, you're my best friend, and yet I know almost nothing about your past."

"Fine." she said, shoving fried vegetables and long strands of noodle into her mouth, hoping that poor eating manners would distract him from this line of questioning. Unfortunately, he just stared softly into her eyes, letting her finish the mouthful of stir-fry.

"So what was it like growing up in Bunny Burrow? I heard there are a lot of wide open spaces and all that fresh air…"

Judy scoffed loudly, nearly choking on her next bite. After taking a long sip of water, she finally spoke. "I grew up in a somewhat small burrow with over three hundred other rabbits. It's one of the oldest buildings on our farm, built by my great grandfather and his brothers, I think."

Nick just gave her a puzzled look but let her continue.

"Oh there were other more modern burrows on the property but Dad insisted we stay in his grand father's house. 'It's a Hopps tradition,' he would always say." She opened the second box in front of her filled with mini egg rolls and decided to share the first one with the fox. "Suffice it to to say, I grew up without a lot of what you would call 'privacy.'"

Chewing on the proffered egg roll, he stared into the space above her head trying to imagine what a house would feel like filled to the ceiling with adorable, fluffy rabbits. He shook his head to try and clear the terrifying thought. "I'm not sure I could understand that at all, Carrots. I was an only child with a single mom. We had a tiny apartment on the east side of town, but it was more than enough space for the two of us."

"And I am so used to having at least a dozen other mammals around wherever I go, it has been a little tough trying to adjust to this city life. It is such a big place, with so many different mammals, but they all live in their own little worlds, like they are afraid to even talk to one another. Sometimes I really miss all my littermates. It's especially hard at night." She let out a loud sigh and slowly nibbled on the last of her egg rolls.

After a long silence, her ears perked up and she looked up at the television hanging on the wall. "Can we start this movie already?"

"Of course, Carrots," he said picking up the remote, "But one last question first."

The glare she directed at him could have scorched the rest of his fur black.

"I am just curious, what's wrong with night here in the city? I think they are quite lovely, most of the time."

She sighed again, trying to decide how much honesty she could handle in one evening. It was only a moment before she popped the last bite of egg roll into her tiny mouth, realizing that her best friend deserved to know at least one of her dark secrets. Her voice was very soft, and it was barely audible due to the raging storm outside, "I have never really been alone before in my life."

"What?" Nick exclaimed, as his eyes grew ten sizes from the shock.

"Even at the academy there were always other mammals around, and we all slept in that one big room full of bunks. Plus, they kept us too tired and busy to worry about anything else. But now, in my tiny little apartment, when it's quiet, and the two neighbors have finally shut up, I find myself missing home and the rest of my litter. I've even been having dreams about them recently."

Nick's sly smirk returned to his face. "Awww, is the poor bunny getting homesick?" he said with a warm chuckle.

"That's it!" the rabbit cried and leapt across the couch to punch the giggling fox in the shoulder. "You're going to get it now, Fox!" She punched him hard in the chest, "That's for making fun of me. And this is for calling me 'cute', and for leaving me soaked in front of your door, and for making me wear one of your tacky shirts, and for laughing at me in said shirt." The plushly furred punches continued to rain down on the fox's body mercilessly as the thunder's intensity also increased outside.

Even though most of her punches hurt, he kept giggling at the cute, fluffy ball of fury on top of him. He eventually had to grab one of the throw pillows, in an attempt to block the vicious strikes, but after her paws struck nothing but fluffy pillow she ran to the other end of the couch to collect her own weapons of plushness.

"Oh, it is on now, Slick!" she cried and began to flail him on the head as he failed to block any of her swift strikes.

For the next hour the small apartment was filled with the sounds of laughter, yelling and the occasional crash of thunder. The pillow fight eventually came to an end when the out of breath rabbit accidentally rolled off the couch and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

Nick giggled and looked down at her, "What did you go and do that for?"

Her only reply was to laugh even harder, tears streaming down her face. She tried to wipe them away with one of the pillows but nearly choked herself in the process.

"Here, Carrots, let me help you up," the fox said, reaching out a darkly furred paw to the sputtering bunny sprawled on the floor in front of his couch.

With the giggle fit slowly subsiding, she grabbed his paw and let him lift her up to a standing position. However, as she was getting back on her toes, their muzzles briefly collided in a soft and silent nuzzle. She slowly looked up to find his eyes staring back at her, and she was once again lost in those emerald pools, oblivious to everything else around her.

The lamp beside the couch flickered, once again leaving them in the dark for a few moments. When the light finally returned, Nick turned and coughed, "How about that movie?"

"I'll get the popcorn!" said the bunny quickly running to the kitchen in embarrassment.

The movie was an old classic, black and white film from the days when color television was still uncommon. It portrayed a young doe on her first big mission as a reporter to investigate rumors of savage attacks on the mammals on the outskirts of nearly unknown forest village. At first, the village was very charming and the villagers welcomed her warmly.

She found the village tailor to be most helpful as well as quite charming for a young buck. He showed her around the village and even introduced her to the villagers who had been savagely attacked. A few weeks passed, and with his help she was able to get enough details to write her story, but she couldn't return to the city until she got a photo of this so called beast. She also found herself oddly attracted to the nice tailor and kept coming up with excuses to get to know him better.

When she thought things between her and the buck were starting to get serious, they had a big fight in the village square. He told her it was time for her to leave and that she should go back to the big city where it was safe, and he stormed off leaving her alone.

It was then that she noticed all of the other villagers had vanished. Their houses were all locked and boarded shut. The sun had only just set, leaving the village partially lit, but the moon had risen early casting its pale, eerie light across the land. Looking up at the huge bright sphere in the sky, she heard a lone howl in the distance. "It's the beast," she thought.

Before she could head in the direction of the howl, someone grabbed her arm and hauled her back. It was the innkeeper trying to plead with her to come back inside where it was safe, but she didn't listen and ran out into the dark woods with her camera held close.

Back in the apartment Nick sat on one end of his couch and rested his head in his left paw. His eyes were droopy as he tried very hard to stay awake during the slow start of the movie.

At the other end of the couch, the rabbit sat glued to the screen with her ears perked at attention. She sighed loudly whenever the young tailor helped out the reporter with her investigation, and nearly cried when they finally broke up after their big fight in the square. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Judy turned to look at the fox for a second and thought, "Nice movie choice, Slick."

Sitting on the couch between the two best friends was a large bucket full of popcorn that they would slowly grab a piece from as the film progressed.

On the flat screen in front of them, the reporter was was lost in the dark woods with only the bright moon to guide her, oblivious to the savage beast that was tracking her. Everything slowly became very quiet, in the apartment and on the screen. Judy shoved a big handful of popcorn into her mouth and Nick's eyes were wide with anticipation.

Suddenly a bloodcurdling scream came from the TV as the terrible, fanged beast lunged out of the trees directly at the unsuspecting doe. At the very same time, thunder crashed fiercely through the apartment causing the windows to rattle and the lamp fell over. The room was cloaked in darkness, and fear hung thick in the air like a pair of old, black velvet curtains.

Moments later, a flash of pale lightning cut through the windows, briefly lighting the small room. In that dim light, the image of a single, large form could be seen sitting on the couch. The fox, whose fur appeared grey in the pale light from the windows, remained sitting on the left end of the couch with his eyes as big as dinner plates. And in his lap sat the small, terrified form of an adorable bunny clutching a rather large bucket of popcorn with her ears standing straight up in front of the todd's face.

When the TV flickered back to life and the movie continued to play, the rabbit grabbed another handful of popcorn and lifted it carefully to shove between the fox's waiting fangs. She also snatched little bites of popcorn from his paws before they passed her nose. Both mammal's eyes were so intently glued to the action on the screen that neither was aware of anything else going on around them, thus the lamp remained where it lay, on its side on the floor.

Unaware of the cute scene on the couch, the movie continued unabated. The beast, who looked a lot like a rabbit wearing a cheap halloween costume leapt at the reporter with his fangs ready to rip open her throat. At the last minute the innkeeper jumped at the beast saving the doe from a vicious mauling. His last words were for her to run, so she did, she ran as fast as should could back to the inn and locked the door.

Inside the inn the innkeeper's wife was waiting frantically for her husband to return, but the reporter only gave her a sad look and shook her head, before the older doe turned and left the room crying.

The next day the rest of the villagers gathered around the fallen innkeeper's body. As several bucks took great care to carry the body to the cemetery, the village mayor sternly told the reporter that it was no longer safe for her and she should leave immediately. She was inclined to agree with the mayor this time, and so began to pack her things, but before she left, she went to say goodbye to the young tailor that she now realized she had fallen for.

When she arrived at his cottage she found that he wasn't there, and upon further investigation saw that his bed had not been slept in either. She went to ask the mayor but he had not seen the tailor either. So she started asking around the village, but everyone just gave her sad looks as they turned away.

Eventually she found her way back to the scene of the attack. When she arrived she was surprised to find a set of rabbit tracks leading away from the scene, so she followed them. The tracks lead deeper into the dark woods but she was determined to find out where they went.

It was almost dark when the tracks finally lead into a small cave. Inside she found the young tailor lying on the floor, bruised, beaten and covered in dried blood. When she tried to help him and lead him back to the village, he only scowled at her, and told her that it wasn't safe, that she had to leave.

But she stood there and confessed her feelings for him claiming that she would never leave him, she would stay and they would get married and have a hundred kits and grow old together. As she poured her heart out to him she never once noticed his fur was getting longer and his teeth became sharper.

When the buck yelled at her to leave again, it only came out as a snarl. The moon had risen, and she was crouched in a cave watching the buck she loved as he turned into a horrible werebeast.

Neither the fox nor the rabbit sitting on the couch ever saw how the movie ended as they had both fallen asleep. Nick was the first to doze off. His eyes were fully closed around the time the villagers met at the scene of the attack. And Judy started to drift off when the reporter was packing her luggage to leave, but was fully out when the reporter found the cave in the woods.

In the wee hours of the morning, Judy rolled over to cuddle fiercely with the warm, fuzzy pillow. She buried her muzzle deep in the soft, orange fluff, let out a long, pleasant sigh, and slipped back into the land of dreams…

* * *

 **[A/N] Thank you to everyone who has been reading and following this story. It has been a lot more work than I ever anticipated, and I think I can understand how hard it can be to put so much of yourself on paper. For me it all started with a bunch of random ideas with Nick and Judy going on various dates. At first I was jotting everything down in a little notebook, no I don't have a carrot pen, but my wife eventually convinced me to consolidate everything into cohesive story and post in on here for everyone to read. The first idea I put down in that note book was of a fox and a bunny watching a scary movie and eating popcorn, and when the thunder crashed outside the bunny suddenly jumped into the fox's lap. And as of a few days ago that's all there was to this chapter, just a few sentences in my old notebook. So it has been pretty rough trying to flush out this chapter over the last couple of days, and I sincerely appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read it. :D**


	6. Chapter 6 - A Pink and Purple Dawn

Chapter 6 - A Pink and Purple Dawn

The cold, brisk morning air was still damp from the passing storm, and smelled of fresh tilled soil and flowers in bloom. It was clean, and brought a sense of new life to the city. A young cop collected the air around her, letting it fill her nose and lungs. She stood still in the soft breeze, her eyes closed, holding the scent as long as she could, like she would cherishing a fine meal. The smell of rain always brought back strong memories of her home in Bunnyburrow.

She looked out at the streets still damp from the downpour and saw the gutters were choked with leaves, old newspapers, and other odd assortments of trash and debris that she would rather not know about. "You would think the storm would have washed all that away last night," the rabbit mumbled under her breath.

"What was that, Carrots?" A tall, red fox said as he approached. He was dressed in a clean but rumpled ZPD uniform and carried a large cup of steaming hot coffee in each paw, one of which he held out to his sharply uniformed partner.

Grabbing the large paper cup from his paw, she sipped energetically at it's scalding hot contents. "About time you showed up, Slick." All thoughts of the crisp morning air and filthy streets fled her mind as the essence of rich coffee doused her senses with it's overpowering aroma. She lifted the lid and took a long whiff before climbing up into the warm interior of the waiting police car.

The engine was still running and the radio crackled with the distant chatter of her fellow officers on their regular patrols. She fastened the buckle over her shapely thighs then reached across the seat to tug firmly on her partner's belt. He held up both paws to the ceiling of the car and wiggled his hips just begging her to frisk him. The giggle she made in return could have kept his cup of coffee warm and fresh all day.

Putting the cruiser in gear, the rabbit gingerly pulled out into the almost non-existent morning traffic and slowly drove down the street. Looking out the window, her amethyst eyes discreetly followed the other mammals on the sidewalk as they moved about their daily routines. Her usual chipper morning expression was broken by a thoughtful frown on her muzzle.

"Why so careful this morning?" the fox asked, sipping his coffee and turned to face her. When she didn't respond or look at him he quickly grabbed her tiny arm and cried with a bark, "Who are you? What have you done with my Carrots?"

"Sorry, Nick," she said shaking off his paw. "I have just been thinking. That and enjoying the brisk morning. It's rare that we get to just sit and enjoy the weather."

"What's so great about it?"

"Don't you ever just stop and enjoy the city life for a minute, or an hour?"

"No, not really." he uttered softly into his cup of dark black ink. "It's been a very long time since I could afford to slow down, and I've not really enjoyed the city since I was young, back when it was all fresh and new."

"Same with me." the bunny said sadly as she slowly made a right turn onto a busy thoroughfare.

"What do you mean?"

"It's been over a year since I first came to this city, but with everything that's been going on I never really took the time to take in the sights. Life as a cop has just been so hectic I just never get a chance to slow down."

"I thought that's just how bunnies are," the fox commented, causing the rabbit to turn her head and give him a puzzled look. "You know, so much energy you're always on the go. Just thought it was a bunny thing." he shrugged, putting down his steaming cup and pulled out his cell to check something on Furbook.

"We do slow down sometimes, more often later in life though."

"When, your mid 90's?" said the todd with a slight smirk.

She laughed so hard she almost ran through a red light and yelled at her partner for the trouble he caused. "Nick! You really need to stop doing that when I'm driving." The punch to his shoulder was swift but playful.

"Now that's the Carrots I remember."

His jokes, even the dumb ones, always warmed her heart and made her laugh, but she wasn't going to tell him that anytime soon, especially when he always seemed to tell them at exactly the wrong time.

Several red lights later Nick looked up from his phone with the slightest hint of a broad smile on his muzzle. "So, how did you like the movie last night? I never got a chance to ask since some bunny was gone when I woke up."

"Oh, um..." she stuttered and tried to avert her eyes from his intense glare. The long grey ears almost fell down to cover her blush before she remember she was still driving. With a cough she gripped the wheel more firmly, ears now straight at attention and a fierce look settled on her face that didn't do much to hide the red flush in her cheeks.

"I didn't want to wake you. I know how much you hate getting up before dawn."

His grin broadened, showing a single row of very sharp fangs. "I greatly appreciated that, Fluff. Oh, and I really loved the part where you left my curtains open too. How did you know the sun would hit me directly between the eyes, hmmm?"

Rolling her eyes she ignored his thick sarcasm and continued with her tale. "I wasn't expecting to crash on your couch so I didn't have a spare uniform with me. Plus my clothes were still a bit damp, so I grabbed them and took a quick jog."

"All the way back to your place?"

"Yeah. I usually run at least that far when I go jogging." the rabbit was literally jumping in her seat as she went through the motions of running in place. "Besides it helped keep me warm before our first cup of Joe."

The fox tried to cover his muzzle but ended up making a single loud sputtering gaffaw and slapped his knee.

"What?" Judy asked angrily.

After several stifled giggles he responded, "When have you ever called it a 'Cup of Joe'?"

"Isn't that what all the guys are calling it these days?" she lowered her voice to sound more masculine. "How about a cup of Joe?"

"No, not at all. You're probably about ten years late for that one, Fluff." he said taking a long swig from his own larger cup.

"Fine. Have it your way, but I am not buying you another round today Mr. Fox."

"I think I can live with that, besides you never answered my question."

"Which question was that?" she asked, quickly looking over her left shoulder as she merged onto the freeway.

"About last night's movie. How did you like it?"

"It was real great. I love those old black and white classic's. Maybe it's me, but I find there's something about them that all of today's new fancy technology just can't compare too. And I really liked following that reporter around as she was trying to solve the savage mystery."

"I am glad you liked it. How did you like the end though? I think I must have dozed off about halfway through."

"It was just wonderful. She finally found her man wounded in a cave." she said excitedly.

"Oh? Very nice."

"She managed to nurse him back to health, but it was too late, and he had changed and ended biting her passing on the curse. It was a really romantic end to a great story."

"Um, did we watch the same movie Carrots?"

"Duh, you were there. You saw me. We were both on your couch, in your apartment, watching the same movie, with the same storm raging outside."

"Well I know I fell asleep in the middle but are you sure you didn't too?" he said stroking the fuzz under his chin thoughtfully.

"No." she exclaimed, "I couldn't have. I clearly remember seeing the two wererabbits chasing each other into the sunset."

"And I clearly remember turning off the TV and the movie player. The screen was stuck playing that stupid main menu over and over."

"I… I… The TV was off when I got up, but I don't remember turning it off, or even how I got a blanket either." she looked at him about to ask another question when he lifted his phone to show it to her.

On the screen was his favorite movie review app showing the box cover for Hassenvoles.

"It says here that the movie had a very tragic and unexpected ending that kind of hits you from left field."

"Really? Let me see." she took the phone out of his paw and began scrolling down through the many pages of text.

"That page says she finds her lover already changed into the beast, but he doesn't recognize her and attacked. The fight was pretty long and drawn out. She manages to climb a tree then finds a branch and fights back for several minutes but he does kill the girl in the end. But the messed up part is that some hunter, who happens to be walking by, overheard the fight and came to the girl's rescue. He was too late of course, but he shoots the wererabbit who just falls over dead."

Judy only stared at her partner with one paw over her muzzle and a look of horror on her face. "That's terrible."

"Well, it's not called a tragedy for nothing." he said shaking his head. "Besides who in their right mind wanders around the woods a night with silver bullets in their gun?"

Judy pulls the cruiser off the freeway into a modest section of town consisting mostly of quaint apartment complexes and small parks. They drove around the area for a few hours before the rabbit spoke up.

"I'm so bored" she said after they passed the same corner for what felt like the fifth time.

"Yeah. It's been awfully quiet for being this close to the weekend. Although there really isn't anything big going on in town right now."

She sighed gripping the steering wheel fiercely as they waited at a red light.

"Weren't you just saying we needed to slow down this morning?"

Not taking her eyes off the signal light she mumbled something angrily under her breath and the fox chuckled.

"Just consider it our lucky day and relax."

They drove for about two more blocks when Judy suddenly pulled the cruiser over to the curb and hopped out and pointed across the street at the Snarlbucks storefront. "I am going for more coffee. Do you want me to get you some?"

Nick just sat in the passenger seat playing with a new phone app. "Naw, I'm good. Still got some left. Go knock yourself out."

When she returned with a large cup of something frothy and smothered in caramel, the fox looked up with a gleam in his eye."If you're really so bored I've got an idea for something fun we can do."

"Sure, I'll try anything at this point, Slick. As long as it's legal."

"We won't even have to leave the car." he replied and winked at her.

"It's something Finnick and I used to do awhile back."

"Ok, I'm game," the bunny said cheerfully. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well," the fox began, "since traffic seems to be picking up on this corner, I thought we could watch the all the mammals go by, and keep an eye out for any bad guys."

"Mammal watching." she scoffed with her arms folded across her chest.

"Something like that, but the catch is that we have to guess who they are and what they are doing."

The rabbit hopped up and down in her seat sipping her fresh cup of coffee. "This is going to be interesting."

"Let me go ahead and start then." the todd took one more sip and pointed at bobcat wearing an old brown suit and carried a worn leather briefcase. "Do you see that bobcat over there?" The bobcat was walking up the street heading straight for the coffee shop.

"Yeah, he looks really tired like he just woke up in the morning."

"My guess is that he was actually up all night gambling on the mammal races. And by his expression he didn't win any. Now he will pick up something to eat before heading home. Or maybe he grabs a big coffee before work?"

Judy just looked at him with a stunned expression on her face for several seconds before she asked curiously. "Wait, how do you know all this?"

"I saw him come out of the sports bar down the street." he pointed to a group of dusty brown buildings all crammed together about 3 blocks away. "That bar also serves as a gambling house for the locals who don't want to or can't get to big casinos. They mostly cover races and tuskball events, and there weren't any tuskball games last night."

"Alright Slick." She said as the tired bobcat left the shop with a chocolate chip muffin and a tall cup of coffee. "My turn now."

Sitting in the police cruiser and sipping coffee, they went back and forth trying to guess what each mammal was up to as they passed. Nick's knowledge of the city clearly outshone the rabbit's energy and enthusiasm, but she was determined to learn all of his tricks.

The sun was well on it's way into the heavens when Nick turned to his partner after her last fumbled guess. "You're trying too hard, Fluff. Stop trying to put so much detail into their life story and just go off what you see."

"Ok," Judy took a deep breath and looked down the street at the next approaching mammal. "There, that rabbit looks interesting." She pointed at a tall cream colored rabbit coming around the corner.

"Go for it," he said encouragingly, a slight smirk on his muzzle.

"Hmmm, alright. Well at first glance she looks like your average everyday rabbit." Nick sipped his coffee and let out a soft mumble urging his partner to continue. "Mid thirties, and she looks taller than most bunnies I know, so maybe part hare. Plus the reddish tint is a little off, and is that glitter on her cheeks?"

Judy glanced over at the fox who was too focused checking the Furbook on his phone before she continued analysing the other rabbit. "She is nicely dressed, in a neat, pretty blouse with a traditional skirt. The whole outfit is almost business like. I would say she is from an office nearby or maybe the mall. With the glitter and the way she is walking probably the perfume department."

"Very interesting. The mall you say?"

"Yeah, she definitely looks like a mall rabbit to me. And I will even bet she has a whole house full of kits at home too."

"How much?" The fox immediately put down his phone and turned to the rabbit next to him.

"What?"

"How much are you willing to stake on these assumptions, Carrots?"

She thought for a second and replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You can take me to the carnival this weekend."

"Oh, really? Just take you there?" The fly fox shuffled in his seat.

"Yes. Pay for the entrance fee, all the rides, and cover any food we eat while there. All expenses paid sort of thing." She smirked pointing her cute pink nose at him. "Deal?"

Nick turned and watched the cream and honey colored rabbit enter the Snarlbucks across the street. "And you're paying for it all when you lose." He reached out to shake his partner's paw when she nodded. "Deal."

Judy hopped up and down in her seat pumping her arms in the air like she was at a Gazelle concert as she watched their subject stand at the end of the line of mammals waiting to place their morning coffee orders.

"First off, she is what we on the streets refer to as a 'working girl', though a bit more upscale than your average night walker, and a lot more professional. I think you might say she is more of an 'escort', and will often take her clients out on the town first."

The grey rabbit's expression slowly turned from mischievous glee to shock and eventually horror as the red fox continued to describe their subject in all too familiar detail.

"Her name is Cotton, or Cotton Candy to be more specific. And by the way she is walking it's obvious she just got off her latest client."

"Ok, Fox. How do you know all this?" she asked with a light hint of anger.

"Oh, I've bumped into her once or twice…" he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Bumped?" Judy exclaimed with Nick oblivious to the jealousy thick in her voice.

"Alright. Finnick and I hustled her a few times recently. And each time she never seemed to recognize either of us. She was always an easy mark, especially right after a 'job'." he made air quotes with his paws when he said the word 'job'.

"Oh." the bunny sighed letting her anger fade for a second.

"Now watch carrots. Ms. Candy is going to order a large latte and a carrot muffin if I'm not mistaken." the fox said, and pointed at the other rabbit as she walked up to the counter.

Several minutes later the older, creamed rabbit sat down near the store window with a large coffee cup and nibbled at her orange muffin.

Judy let out a resigned sigh and prepared to pull the cruiser back into the flow of traffic, "Ok, Mr. Foxy, you win this time. When should I come by though? Saturday or Sunday?"

"Hmm. not to early though. Remember I sleep in on weekends."

"What in the world?" she exclaimed, watching a brief altercation outside the coffee shop. The nicely dressed rabbit had finished her breakfast and was leaving the store when she bumped into a gaudy black ram wearing purple silk and way too much jewelry. At his side were two buff antelope with broad shoulders and bulging biceps. When the ram saw her, he grabbed her smaller arm and dragged her outside and began shouting with one of his hoovess pointed in her face. The rabbit just kept her eyes down trying hard to not meet the gaze of the angry sheep, but he slapped her causing her to glare at him angrily.

"Oh, hell no." Judy cried.

At the sight of the larger mammal taking advantage of a fellow rabbit, Judy reached for her car door, ready to show the foolish ram what it means to mess with one of her kind. However Nick already had a firm grip on her arm, preventing her from leaping out of the car.

The sad look on his muzzle and the shake of his head was all he needed to say. "Carrots, don't. Stay out of it. You will only make things worse, for both of them."

"What the hell are you saying, Nick?" Her fury now turned to the dark red paw holding her arm.

"If you do manage to arrest him, he will just be back out on the street again before the sun sets. And she will end up with more than just a black eye. You will only earn her resentment if you jump in there now." He turned to look out the car window at the exchange going on across the street as the well dressed rabbit pulled a large envelope from her tiny purse and handed it to the gaudy ram. The ram gave her a last shove, pointed an accusing hoof into her muzzle and quickly walked away with the two ripped antelope following him.

The vicious growl that came from the rabbit next to him sent a shiver down his spine and made all the fur on his tail stand on end. He had never heard of a rabbit, or any prey animal, making such a predatory sound, and it actually scared him slightly.

Taking his paw off of Judy's arm he offered her a concession. "If it makes you feel any better we can follow that ram and see what he is up to. He is bound to make a mistake sooner or later."

She only scowled at him as she put the car into gear and slowly pulled into the mid-day traffic.

The gaudily dressed purple ram and his antelope cronies had climbed into an oversized sedan with dark black tinted windows in the back. With an excessive amount of chrome trim, the car really stood out in a crowd, making it easy for the two cops to follow as it headed into the seedier section of town.

"They really aren't making it hard to follow them, Carrots." Nick commented after passing several blocks.

"Almost too obvious if you ask me." The bunny replied with a sigh. "Do you really think we will catch them doing something illegal today?"

"Maybe not today. But I know the type. Flashy clothes, fancy cars, and always bragging about all the trouble they get into. Usually just asking to get arrested."

"So you think he is just taunting us?" Her scowl only deepened.

"If they are actually sober enough to realize where even here. Besides, this beats sitting on the corner watching mammals go by."

"Good point." She said with slightly more cheer in her voice.

After twenty minutes of tailing the ram's sedan through a section of the city know as Happytown the two cops watched as the car pulled over to the curb in front of an old abandoned tailor shop. One of the antelopes climbed out carrying a large brown grocery bag and disappeared down a dark alley. Once the antelope and his groceries were out of sight, the gaudy sedan took off again.

"What in that world was that about?" Judy said with a confused look on her muzzle.

"Carrots." Nick said turning to his partner and shaking her arm. "Carrots. Don't you realize where we are?"

"What?"

"Take a good look at that alley."

"Wait. Isn't that the alley we camped out in all night?" Her eyes widened and she pulled the cruiser behind a large construction dumpster sticking partially into the street. "And that's where the drug lab was supposed to be."

Judy jumped out of the car and quickly crossed the street with her partner hot on her heels. "That antelope is up to something, and I mean to find out what."

"I'm right behind you, Fluff."

The rabbit checked her sidearm and dove into the quiet alley the antelope had entered only moments before, but it was clean and clear, almost too clean. Last night's rainstorm had managed to wash away all the refuse, leaving this back street looking fresh and new. The antelope, and his groceries, were nowhere to be seen.

Taking a quick look around the area she headed to the far end of the alley where it intersected with another wider alley. The new alley had once been a main thoroughfare for trash trucks and deliveries alike. Scattered about were several overturned dumpsters and piles of broken furniture. One broken old couch had some kind of homeless mammal sleeping on it that the rabbit could not easily identify.

At the far end of the alley and partially hidden behind a pile of trash was a black and green vehicle, possibly a small truck or SUV. And standing across from it was the antelope, still carrying his large brown paper bag. He climbed a set of stone steps and knocked on an old metal door.

Judy crouched down behind one of the overturned dumpsters and began taking photos with her cell phone. Her new iCarrot had a high quality camera built in, with an excellent zoom feature, so she was able to make out more of the details than her naked eyes alone.

Minutes passed and the antelope knocked on the door twice more before it opened pushing him slightly off the steps.

Even with the zoom on her camera the rabbit was unable to make out any details from the mammal who had opened the door. All she could see was an arm that eventually reached for the grocery bag. The arm was covered in a brown cloth of fine make and cloaked in a long white material that reminded Judy of something her last doctor wore. At the end of the arm was a cloven hoof with three fingers.

The hoof quickly grabbed for the brown sack, snatching it from the antelope's arms and vanished inside the building once again, leaving the old metal door to slam shut with a heavy thud that woke the homeless mammal from his drunken slumber. The antelope turned his back on the door and waited with an casual expression on his muzzle and his arms crossed.

Within minutes the door opened and once again the finely dressed arm stuck through. In the hoof was held a small plastic bag filled with a dozen or so small white pills.

Judy was about to speak to her partner when she noticed he was no longer crouched behind her. Instead he was trotting up from the other alley smiling like a kitten who had just gotten into the cream. "Where have you been? I just caught them in the middle of a drug deal."

"You will never guess what I just found."

"Oh, and what could be more important than catching these perps?" she asked with a huff.

"That address of that building." The todd replied with a satisfied smirk on his muzzle.

"What about it?"

"It so happens that the address for that building," he pointed at the old metal door, "is 1212 Hammington Drive."

The rabbit looked at her partner perplexed and a little angry as the antelope they were tailing turned a corner into the alley he had just left. "I don't get it."

"The address the wolf gave us for the drug lab was 1221 Hammington. Nick exclaimed watching as the realization slowly dawned on the small rabbits face.

"Cheese and crackers! We need to tell Bogo." The rabbit suddenly launched herself down the alley behind the fox and after the escaping antelope.

* * *

The large black-furred buffalo stood behind his desk staring down at the two diminutive officers seated before him. There was something about this pair that always set his teeth on edge. They were both excellent cops for their size, but the combination of the rabbit's excitable can-do attitude and the fox's knife edge wit was a recipe for disaster. Yet they both worked together well and seemed to keep each other in check, most of the time.

"So what is it your trying to show me?" He said gesturing to the images on his phone as his scowl deepened.

Was it his imagination or was the bunny actually holding the fox's paw? Taking off his glasses he rubbed his eyes again before taking another look. "I must be seeing things in my old age." He thought to himself, then he realized the rabbit was saying something to him.

"And we think the wolf, Mr. Longtooth," she coughed slightly when she thought the chief wasn't paying attention. "We think the wolf had the right address, but just transposed the numbers in his drug addled mind."

Chief Bogo lifted his phone to closer inspect the photos of an antelope handing over a large grocery bag and receiving a bag of pills in return. The very same bag now sat on his desk, and the antelope was resting comfortably on a cold metal bench in a holding cell downstairs, refusing to speak to anyone. What he didn't have was the dealer, the owner of this "well dressed arm".

The fox spoke up echoing Bogo's own thoughts. "By the way the dealer is dressed, we think it's the goat we have been looking for. In the photo you can clearly make out the lab coat over his well made suit."

Taking a deep breath to calm his rage before yelling at his newest recruit, he just looked up with a clearly fake smile. "And where is this goat now?"

Standing up straight the rabbit officer returned his smile cheerfully. "Once we apprehended the buyer, Sir, we returned to the building but could not find any sign of the seller or the homeless mammal either. And the door was locked tight."

Taking his own seat behind the desk, the buffalo rubbed the bridge of his nose in thought as the bunny continued.

"We would like permission to continue to stake out the location, Sir."

"No." he said, nearly shouting. Taking another deep breath he continued, "There is no need. You have brought enough evidence to authorize a raid on this lab. So you'll get your warrant this time, but I am sending Wolfard and Delgato as backup."

Both the rabbit and the fox just sat there with a stunned look on their muzzles.

"Was there anything else officers?" he asked in a firm tone.

"No, sir." they replied in unison while standing up together in the chair they had been sharing.

"Then you are dismissed." he said pointing a sharp hoof at the door.

"Yes, Sir." they each saluted and headed out of their boss's office.

He could see it now. The rabbit was clearly holding the fox's paw as they walked out of his door. Out on the streets, in the normal everyday world, he wouldn't think anything of this show of affection, but as officers, and in his precinct, it was just unprofessional.

"Hopps." the buffalo yelled loud enough to be heard across the lobby.

"Yes, Sir." she turned to face him, letting go of her partner, as the fox continued through the door as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

The Chief gave her a steady glare for several seconds as if trying to decide what to say that wouldn't sound too awkward.

"Try not to blow anything up this time."

"Yes, Sir." She saluted crisply. "I will try, Sir."

* * *

Dark clouds covered the noonday sun threatening to drench the two small officers as they crept through the filthy alley. A cool breeze ruffled their fur and whistled through a pile of discarded furniture muffling the sound of their steps. The sound of the wind did nothing to cover the sound of the taller mammals claws as they clacked noisily on the old and broken pavement.

"Nick." the shorter one hissed. "Control your claws, or so help me I will cut them off."

The fox only shrugged at his partner but tried to walk more on his heels to lessen the chance of his claws striking the hard ground.

They eventually came upon a small set of stone steps with a very old and weathered metal door at the top. Most of it's old blue paint had been chipped away and the rusty remains were covered in large dents and deep gouges. The old door had seen a lot of abuse over the years, but it still held firmly to the lock fiercely barring passage to the small ZPD officers.

The small, grey rabbit climbed the steps and tested the doorknob. "It's locked, and I don't think either Wolfard or Delgato could break it down. What do we do know?" She slowly climbed back down with a paw on her chin deep in thought. "Maybe we could call Rhinowitz or Trunkaby?"

"Just keep an eye out and let me handle this." the todd stated smoothly as he slipped a plastic card from his wallet.

Turning away from her partner, she first looked up the alley then down keeping one paw on the tranquilizer strapped to her hip. The intense glare on her muzzle daring any savage mammals nearby to try and jump them. After a few moments there was a click followed by the soft metallic squeak from the door behind her. She jumped at the sudden sound, turning around to spot the fox standing with the door wide open and a cheap smirk on his muzzle.

"Nice job, Slick." she swiftly punched his shoulder and grabbed her paw-held radio. "Hopps, and Wilde to Wolfard and Delgato. We are entering the premises now. Please watch our tails."

"Roger that Hopps." came the voice of the lion over the radio.

Satisfied that their backs were covered Judy drew her weapon and cautiously entered the dark interior with the fox right behind her. Before the door could close again he grabbed a large rock and propped the door open with it, then fiddled with the locking mechanism to ensure they wouldn't get locked inside, and to give their backup an easy way inside in the case of an emergency. He then gave a casual salute to the cruiser parked at the end of the alley and ducked inside following his partner.

When his eyes had adjusted to the dim interior, he spotted the rabbit standing half crouched with her weapon at the ready. She was pointing it behind the large couch in the center of the room checking for any mammals that might be hiding there. The air in the room was full of dust and he tried not to cough, it covered everything and frequently fell from the ceiling. Other than the couch, the only things in the dirty room were a small lamp sitting on an old end table and an ancient tube television with a pair of rabbit ear antennas on top.

The rest of the room was bare. Empty shelves lined the walls and the boarded up store windows let in enough dim light that the fox could see everything clearly.

Once her survey of the central room was complete Judy silently gestured to him pointing to the side door. He silently followed her, his own weapon drawn to cover her. Following the standard procedure they learned at the academy, they both slipped into the next room.

This room was set up like a crudely slapped together kitchen. The counters and sink were covered in thick layers of dust while a clean microwave sat on one end. An old fashioned fridge took up one corner of the room and wasn't even plugged in. Inside were dozens of empty beer cans, and a bottle of mustard.

"This place is empty." she cried putting her tranq gun back in it's holster. "There is nothing here."

"Isn't that the same brand of beer we found in the totally trashed house over by the Meadowlands?" Nick pointed out.

Judy took another look in the fridge. "It might be. I'll have to check my report again." She pulled out her radio and called their back up. "Wolfard, Delgato, it's all clear, you can come join us."

Turning back to her partner in frustration, "I don't get it. If this isn't the lab then what is it?"

"Not sure, Fluff. This place somehow seems very familiar to me." he said carefully checking the floors and even kicking the walls. "I don't see any other exits or trap doors, so I think this is all there is."

"So is this just some kind of hide out? The TV hasn't even been used in a long time, the remote is still covered in dust."

"No. It doesn't have the feel of anything so permanent. I think our dealer waits for his buyers here and then leaves immediately after."

The rabbit took a deep sigh only to choke on a thick cloud of dust. "What do we do now?"

She jumped at the sound of a loud knock on the old metal door where a lion officer stood trying to see into the dim interior. "So did you two find anything interesting?"

"Have a look for yourself." the fox replied with a sly grin across his muzzle.

* * *

 **[A/N] This chapter has been very rough for me to write. There have been a lot of distractions over the last week and I have not been able to get into the right mindset to write about Nick and Judy. Yet as I read back through this final version I am not entirely satisfied with how it turned out. I feel that overall it turned out to have way more dialog than I had planned. This chapter was originally meant to be more of an action sequence where they find the goat in the abandoned building, but as the words flowed onto the page things got changed a lot. Hopefully it will all make sense in the long run, for now just enjoy this little clue.**

 **And now for some replies to the latest comments:**

 **djvanx12: Thanks, I really enjoy writing the fluffy parts to this story.**

 **RapisSammi: Please sit back and enjoy the ride, it should be a long sailing from here.**

 **MasterChief117: It is meant to be a Romantic Mystery Adventure so expect a lot of cliffhangers.**

 **fragolette: Thank you. There should be another one coming out very soon :D**

 **gonekrazy3000: I had originally not intended to write about the next morning but to dive right into the drug bust, so there are several extra pages in this chapter just because you asked.**

 **car213: I hope you found this chapter as good as the last one.**


	7. Chapter 7 - What Are You Wearing

Chapter 7 - What Are You Wearing

Shadows scampered across the pavement to hide under the eaves and behind the few bushes that the lined the streets. The morning sunlight chased them around the city, through the parks and plazas and into quiet alleys where they could scurry behind dumpsters and under forgotten piles of rubble. They would spend the rest of the day hiding under parked cars, and the leafy branches of paw planted trees, waiting for evening to arrive once again.

But one mammal couldn't see the lurking shadows that morning. Too bright was the light and sparkle in the bunny's eyes as her hind paws struck the pavement in a steady rhythm. She didn't try to look under eaves or behind thick bushes or any of the other dark places around the city for the slowly vanishing shadows. Jogging down the sidewalk she did however wave a cheerful greeting to all the mammals she passed that morning.

All thoughts of dark clouds and rain storms vanished from her mind as if they had never existed. Today was her day off, the carnival was in town, and she was going to spend the entire day there with her bestest friend in the whole city. Her mind was filled with thoughts of all the fun and exciting things they would do together.

It had been such a long time since she had been to an actual carnival. The big-time traveling carnivals tended to skip a small town like Bunnyburrow. Sure, they had their local festivals and the tri-burrow fair, but it was nothing like the big cities, with their exciting rides and games. She couldn't remember the last time she had the chance to ride on a Ferris Wheel, and she had been too young and too small at the time to be allowed on any of the other rides. Today was her big chance, and she was going to ride on every single one.

Thoughts of all the excitement to come quickened her pace and she nearly leapt down the street with every step. After several blocks she slowed to merely skipping along to the music on her iCarrot. The rest of the mammals going about their daily morning business paid little attention to the happily skipping bunny, chalking it up to typical rabbit behavior.

Turning a corner, the rabbit entered a section of town where the streets were lined with small shops and businesses, but the upper floors are all rented out as apartments. She stopped in front of a particular claw salon owned by a pair of friendly red pandas. Then bounced through a side door and up the old, rickety stairs till she reached the third floor.

When she reached the fourth door along the narrow hallway, she turned and knocked gently on its worn surface. Continuing to jog in place made the bunny almost look like she was hopping gleefully while waiting for a reply. Several seconds pass before she knocked again, only a little harder this time.

On the third knock, the hopping stopped and she shouted through the door in agitation. "Nick. I know you're in there. Open this door. Nick..."

Several more minutes passed with no reply from beyond the silent portal, when she began rummaging through her pockets for the spare set of keys.

With the door finally open she poked her tiny head through the crack yelling once again for the room's occupant. "Nick? It's me, Judy. Are you in here?"

Her sharp rabbit ears picked up a soft muffled sound coming from the bedroom but she couldn't tell if it was a mumbled answer or just more snoring. It was obvious that whatever mammal made that sound was still very much asleep. She gave a dissatisfied grumble, closed the door and headed in search of the source of the noise.

In the bedroom she found a most disheveled sight. It was dark in the room, with the curtains blocking out the morning light, and there laying on the large bed, was a half dressed red fox still wearing the lower half of his uniform. The bed sheets were thrown in a rumpled pile on one corner of the mattress, and the pillows were nowhere to be seen. At some point in the middle of the night he had decided to use the upper half of his uniform as a pillow and it was balled up under his muzzle.

As the rabbit entered the darkened bedroom the sleeping fox let out a loud sputtering snore that almost sounded like he was trying to talk in his sleep. "Oh, Nick," she huffed and pulled back the curtains letting in the glorious daylight.

The fox's reaction was anything but immediate. With his next breath he let out a low groan, rolled over and attempted to cover his head with the dark blue shirt, but only managed to get one long sleeve over his pointed ears. His face scrunched up and his paws clenched as if the bright light filling the room caused him great pain even as he slept.

Carefully reaching out a fluffy paw, Judy tried to gently wake the soundly sleeping todd. Frustrated by his lack of a response she leapt onto the bed and began shaking him to no avail. However the light shining through the window revealed to her a new option.

Climbing over his still form she reached for the corner of a pillow that she could now see was sticking out from under the pile of sheets. Lifting the pillow high over her head, held firmly in both paws, she brought it down across his muzzle with a loud 'thwump'.

"Wake. Up. Nick." She emphasized each word by raining down an excruciating assault upon the poor fox's head with the large overstuffed bag of cotton fluff.

Her murderous barrage was rewarded by the larger red furred mammal rolling over onto his bare chest and snoring even louder.

Letting out an exasperated sigh she slumped down on the mattress and just listened to him breathing. His head was turned towards her and his nose wiggled like he was trying to catch a scent. She just sat there for a few minutes listening to his breathing and watched the wriggling black nose.

Suddenly she reached out and booped his nose with the well trimmed claw on the end of her plush grey finger. At her soft touch he bolted straight up to a sitting position with his arms raised and ready to fight, "What? Where?"

His eyes eventually focused on the rabbit sitting next to him with an angry expression on her muzzle. "Carrots, what are you doing here? Oww." He winced, holding up an arm to block out the early morning light. "Did you have to open the curtains? It's so bright it's giving me a headache."

"Get up, Slick." She threw the pillow at his face with enough force to knock him over and leapt off the bed. "We have a lot of things to do today."

"Like what? It's our day off." He said, pulling the pillow down from his face to cover his bare white chest.

"You forgot what we planned to do today, didn't you?" She smirked at him with her cute pink nose almost touching his big black one.

"No, no. I totally remember your big plans."

"Good. Then you can remember to buy the coffee when you're up." The rabbit stated leaving the room with a quick swish of her tiny tail. "Oh and you should probably take a shower too. You're smelling a bit foxy this morning."

"I do not," he sniffed at his arms. "Eww. Maybe you're right." Grabbing a towel off of the shelf he headed to the shower.

While scrubbing an apple scented shampoo into his thick orange fur his thoughts raced trying to remember what plans Judy had made for their days off. Franticly his mind ran through all of the conversations they had in the last few days looking for any hints or clues she might have said.

It wasn't until he stepped out of the shower and began to dry his fur that it came back to him. His thoughts had wandered in anticipation of that first cup of coffee when he remembered their conversation sitting outside the coffee shop the other day.

"The carnival." He exclaimed snapping his fingers. "She hasn't stopped talking about it all week. It's like she'd never been to one before." Tossing aside the towel he stepped in front of the blow dryer and shook out his tail.

"Do they even get carnival's out there in the country?" he wondered.

About thirty minutes later they were standing on a large metal platform alongside several other mammals, all waiting for the local train to arrive. The fair grounds, where the carnival was set up this year, were on the far side of town, out past the Meadowlands. It was too far to reasonably consider taking a bus, and the chief had strictly forbidden them from using their cruiser on weekends and personal trips. So they found themselves waiting on the old creaky elevated platform for the next commuter train.

Soon enough Judy's ears picked up the distant rattle and clank of the approaching trolley. She tugged on Nick's tie, looking down the tracks and pointed as the cars came into sight around the corner. "Here it comes."

"Good. Got our tickets, Fluff?"

"Right here, sleepy head." she held up the large paper tickets and smacked his nose with them playfully.

"Owww."

They climbed aboard the train once it came to a stop and took the nearest seats they could find. The car was quickly filled with mammals large and small, all trying to find their own spot to sit or stand. After a few brief moments the train took off again. It was a local train that stopped at every station along the way. The trip across town could take another forty minutes, so they decided to try and get comfortable in the crowded passenger car.

At every stop the all the mammals shuffled around them, and in Judy's mind it felt like the car would empty out just to be filled again.

"It's a weekend. Where are all of these mammals going?" The rabbit said after the third stop. She slumped back in the hard plastic seat nearly landing on the fox.

"Just relax, Fluff. We will be there soon enough."

Judy let out an angry huff and folded her arms across her chest leaning back against Nick's arm. He placed his paw on her shoulder in an effort to calm the stressed bunny.

"You're really tense today, Carrots." He commented to which she mumbled a grumpy reply.

Reaching out his other paw he started rubbing her shoulders carefully. The rabbit bumped into his chest as the train lurched forward again and her tall ears smacked him softly in the nose.

"Ouch. Hey, what the..." He lifted his paws to pull her floppy ears out of his face, but when his dark paws came into contact with the soft grey, plushy fur she let out a pleasant hum and leaned back against his chest with her eyes closed. "Oh you like that," he thought.

Quickly changing his tactics to help relax the tense little bunny he started to rub the tips of her ears instead of her neck and shoulders. She squirmed a little at the touch and scooted back into a more comfortable position letting him continue.

Slowly working his way down the twin towers of fluff, he made sure to gently massage every plushy grey inch. It only took a few moments of this attention before he could see all the tension begin melt away. The rabbit's face visibly relaxed and her warm lips curled into a cute little smile.

This was something new. He had never realized that Judy's ears were so sensitive, or that a simple touch could relax her so thoroughly. Stroking them firmly with both paws, he gave each ear his undivided attention until the bunny let out a soft squeak. With the back of her head laying on his chest he could actually feel her purr. The rabbit was a purely cute, puddle of mush in his arms and melting further with each caress of his big paws.

Inside the bare skin of her ears were such a dark red as the fox had never seen before. His sly mind came up with a sharp idea on the spot. While petting one ear with his paw, he extended a claw with the other and gently ran it up the insides almost scraping the dark red flesh. The deep moan that escaped from her tiny lips sent a shiver up his spine, leaving him momentarily stunned and he let her slowly slide off of his lap.

She hit the floor with a soft thump and a loud 'eep', waking her from the blissful dream.

"Hey you, Fox. Leave that poor rabbit alone!" A tall zebra who had been standing nearby stepped up to Nick and held a clenched hoof in front of his muzzle threateningly.

Judy woke from her daze and stood up to see a larger mammal threatening Nick. "What do you think you're doing?" She yelled at the zebra.

Turning to her the zebra exclaimed, "I am not going to stand here and let this 'predator' take advantage of you." The word predator was filled with such hate and disgust that Judy felt like she needed to take a long bath.

"How dare you threaten my friend like this!" The glare she gave the zebra made him take a few steps back. The rabbit pointed her tiny paw at the larger mammal's chest. "You and your prejudice make me sick. I don't want to see you harassing my Fox again." She made this last point by shoving her clenched paw into his muzzle. The zebra had never seen such a fierce reaction from a bunny before and he simply turned with an angry huff and strutted from the car, but not before looking back at them in revulsion.

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully with Judy's anger at the rude mammal slowly subsiding the closer they got to their destination. She kept looking out the window as the city slipped by and let out a childlike squeak when the carnival rides came into view. When the train finally pulled into the station she raced through the doors pulling Nick by the paw.

She literally ran the block and a half from the station all the way to the ticket booths hauling the fox behind her. "We're finally here, Nick. Isn't this so exciting?" She was jumping up and down clapping her paws in sheer joy.

"Two adults plus ride passes, that will be 45 Zoobucks." Said the bored looking cheetah inside the booth.

Turning to the fox, Judy gave him a questioning look.

"What?" he shrugged his shoulders.

"Aren't you going to pay the nice mammal?"

"Why me?" he implored with a paw across his chest.

"You should be a gentlemammal and pay for the lady's tickets, Slick" she smirked up at him flashing her pretty eyes.

The fox placed his paws on his knees and leaned over to the rabbit's eye level. "If I remember correctly you lost the bet the other day, Sweetheart."

"And who had to drag whose tail out of his bed this morning hmmm?" She balled her paws into fists and placed them on her hips glaring back at the fox. Her pink nose twitched in anger, bumping into his black one. Rubbing her itchy nose she added "Plus who bought breakfast and paid your train pass renewal this month?"

With patience the cheetah inside the ticket booth chuckled and rolled her eyes at the cute couple's antics. This was probably the most interesting thing she would see all day so she sat back and enjoyed the brief drama. It was still early and there wasn't much of a line yet, so she let them continue their flirty banter.

"I'm going to teach you some proper manners someday, even if I have to box it into that thick skull of yours."

"Ok, fine. I will let you skip out on our bet this once." The fox retorted with a wink to his small companion.

Stretching a paw down his backside a troubled expression crossed his muzzle and he started patting down all of his pockets. "Oh no. Not again."

Judy's expression turned dark as she scowled back at the fox. "What's wrong, darlin'?" She asked mockingly.

"I can't believe I did this again." He let out a pained sigh. "I am so sorry but I seem to have forgotten my wallet."

"You didn't!" The rabbit cried in shock.

"It's true this time. I am really very sorry, Judy." His muzzle pointed at the ground, eyes moistened, and his tail slipped between his legs. She had never seen him so disheartened before, it was almost priceless.

"Aww. It's alright, Slick." She said as her phone let out an audible 'click'. "That's why I took the precaution of grabbing it off your dresser before we left."

Grabbing the proffered wallet from her furred grasp, the somber look in his eyes turned to a bright cheery smile. "Clever bunny."

"Dumb fox."

She put her phone back into her pocket after saving Nick's photo to her micro storage card.

"Now go buy our tickets so we can find out what fun rides they have."

The carnival was set up in the old fair ground outside of town. It was a large empty dirt field past the Meadowlands that was often used by the local farmers to showcase their new tractors or prized produce. This weekend it was sectioned off with large hay bales separating the entertainment from the parking areas, and to keep the casual passerby from getting inside without purchasing tickets first. Several mammals, while waiting in line for tickets, decided to partake of all the free food stacked up outside and many of the bales had large chunks bitten out of them.

Inside was even less tidy with bits of straw mixed together with the loose gravel covering the ground. The straw was intended to give bare paws something softer to walk on. However, the sheer number of hooved animals at the carnival this year left the straw padding trampled to a pulp against the coarse gravel.

Judy was too caught up in all the bright sights and chaotic sounds to notice any discomfort under her paws. She joyously bounded from one brightly colored booth to the next gaudy tent or delicious smelling food wagon like a child in a candy store. Her paws wrapped around Nick's arm as she dragged him through each new sight and sound and smell.

"This is so amazing. I have never seen so many exciting things all in one place."

"What, you've never been to a carnival before, Carrots?" The fox said looking at the happy rabbit a little shocked.

"No. Nothing this big ever comes to the burrows." She said looking into a ring toss game as they slowly strolled past. "I mean we have the Carrot Days in midsummer and the county fair in the fall. Neither of those are this fancy, with the big rides, and so many little games to play."

"Yeah, and all this exotic food is making me hungry." He quickly wiped a bit of drool from his cheek before the bright eyed bunny could notice.

"Yes. Let's try this one over here." With the fox in tow she hopped over to the nearest food truck and promptly ordered the fried pickle on a stick.

"This is great Nick." She exclaimed chomping through the thickly battered vegetable. "I never knew fried pickles could be so good."

"Oh that does look interesting." He said tentatively holding up something deep fried and smothered in chocolate.

"You really should try this." The bunny said taking another nibble of her snack before holding it up to the fox's muzzle.

"Ah, no thanks." Putting his paw up he tried to push the fried green plant away from his nose.

"Come on, just one bite." She pled giving him her biggest puppy eyed look.

He tried to turn away from those shining, amethyst weapons of mass cuteness but failed to escape in time. "Alright, the cute bunny wins, this time."

"Damn straight."

"But you have to try what I ordered first." He held up his own greasy carnival treat.

"Um, oh, ok." Judy said falteringly, but the warm smell of chocolate helped bolster her courage. "It can't be all that bad."

The rabbit took a chaste bite of the chocolate covered treat, chewed for a few moments sampling the flavors before she swallowed. Her eyes slowly brightened as she chewed. "Mmm, this is really good, Slick. It's warm, sweet and just a little spicy, and the crunchy crust is just wonderful." She leaned over to take another bite as Nick snatched it from away her lips but she swiped it out of his paws instead.

With her mouth full she mumbled, "What is it?"

"That my dear is a rare delicacy they serve at the Big's house on special occasions. It's called a Sausage Roll."

Her only reply was a grinding, mumbled hum as she savored the delightful taste of her second bite.

"It's made from grasshopper meat." He added casually.

"Pfffffffffttttttttt!" She immediately spat out the contents of her mouth and furiously pawed at her tongue.

Nick just fell down on the straw-covered gravel and began to laugh emphatically holding his stomach. Seeing the fox's folly, the rabbit politely covered her mouth and began to giggle. They chortled together for several minutes rolling around on the ground until they were both very dirty.

When they finally came to their senses he asked her earnestly, "It's not really that bad is it?"

"No, it is actually quite good." She confessed, and to prove it to him she grabbed his paw to take a third bite of the chocolate covered sausage roll. He carefully watched her eyes as she demurely nibbled on his treat.

After taking a few more bites she held out what was left of her own fried vegetable on a stick. "Now it's your turn," she said cheerfully.

He took a small bite of the pickle with his overly large jaws and tried to chew it slowly but made a horrible face. "Oh dam! This is so bitter and sour. Ugh."

The expressions he was making while trying not to gag made Judy break into another fit of laughter.

"This isn't funny, Carrots." He said after finally swallowing the offensively sour pickle.

Standing up and dusting off her jeans, she reached out a paw to the todd and helped him climb back onto his feet.

"That was fun, so what should we do next, Carrots?"

"Let's find out what else this place has to offer." Yanking his paw hard enough to make a soft popping sound she hopped around the next tent towing him behind her.

Barely going around the next corner the bunny came to a complete stop with her jaw wide open in amazement. Nick would've barreled into her if he hadn't quickly dodged to the side and stumbled past her.

There, before the rabbit was a short line of mammals leading up to a tall contraption with dozens of long spindly arms holding up a massive ring. The arms were lined with blinking lights and at the end of each was a cute metal chair shaped like a wide tea cup with a colorful umbrella above the rim.

Mammals would climb into the cups and close a padded iron bar across their laps then the operator would pull a small lever to its halfway position causing the ring to spin. One cup full of mammals would rise into the air while another slowly descended to the ramp. The cup would stop to lett out a group of mammals and another group would take their place. This continued until six cups had been filled when the operator pulled the lever all the way down and let the ring spin slowly for a couple of minutes. Many whistles and cheers could be heard from above while the ride moved. Eventually the operator pushed the lever back up and started the process all over again.

The dazed bunny spent a moment staring at the huge contraption in awe before she let out an excited squeak. "The Ferris Wheel!"

"Yes, that's what they're called, Darlin."

"You wouldn't believe how long I have wanted to ride on one of these." Pulling on his arm she skipped over to the end of the short line.

Within minutes they were ushered onto the ramp and boarded a faded green tea cup with torn and tattered cushions. They took their seats and pulled the iron bar closed across their chests. The operator, a young and scruffy moose, pulled twice on their safety bar then set a yellow striped pin in place before walking back to the ride's controls.

Judy anxiously watched him reach for the big lever on top of the control box. When the moose pulled it down to the halfway position the car lurched forward several meters and stopped suddenly, leaving the fox and rabbit swinging back and forth in their seat slowly. He finally pulled the lever all the way down after loading up a couple more cars with the waiting passengers. Their car lurched forward again sending them swinging as they ascended through the arc of the giant ring.

The rabbit gleefully swung her legs back and forth with the rhythm of their car in an attempt to kept them swinging, but suddenly stopped when they neared the top. She gazed over the rim as the cityscape rose and fell in the distance. "It's beautiful." She cried, trying to drag the fox over to her side of the car as the began it's second rotation.

"Hmmm," he shrugged at her trying not to look down.

"Oh, what's wrong, Slick?"

"It's nothing, Carrots. I've just seen it all before, a hundred times over. So it's nothing new to me."

"Well, it's new to me. And you did kind of promise to show me around, or did you forget that too, Dumb Fox?"

"Ok, let's see then." He scooted over to her side of the car and pointed over her shoulder. "Do you see that building up on the hill with the three twisting towers?"

"Yeah. They look like they are spiraling around each other." Her eyes widened trying to get a better look at the building he was pointing at. Their car was starting to make it's slow descent and soon the view of the city was hidden behind the tents and other rides.

When the tall spires came back into view Nick continued with his story. "So, on the very tip of that one on the left is a pretty cool restaurant with an amazing view of the city."

"Oh, wow. We should go there sometime."

"I don't know, Fluff." He let out a rough sigh. "It's pretty hard to get into, and really expensive. I hear the waiting list can take a couple of months."

"Don't worry. I really do want to see the view from up there and I'm sure I can wait for it. Besides we're not going anywhere silly fox."

"Actually we are, the ride will be over soon." The fox stated as the wheel began another loop.

"Aww, and I was having such a good time."

"Oh? This one is a bit slow for my taste. Can we go on something a bit more fast paced next?"

"Sure. How about that one." She pointed to a black monstrosity with seven huge arms each holding five single seats. The arms were spinning around in such a crazy pattern it was hard for her eyes to follow, and she kept thinking one of the seats was going to fly off at any second.

"Yes. The Squid Spinner is perfect." The fox exclaimed trying to leap out of the seat before their car came to a stop, but the iron bar wouldn't budge no matter how much he wrestled with it.

Rolling his eyes the operating moose walked up to them and lifted the latch, releasing the anxious fox whose turn it was to haul the bunny down the ramp to the exit.

They managed to try out several other rides before their passes ran out. Most of the ones they tried were either fast paced or scary, but they both agreed they would finish up by trying out the big, glittery carousel.

The carousel had an odd mix of fantasy sea creatures and strange flying lizards. Judy chose a noble looking seahorse while Nick picked a large white fish with a sharp pointy nose. Like a gentlemammal from the past, the fox helped his lady friend onto the back of her seahorse but fumbled terribly when it came to his own mount. He pretended to slip a couple of times and when he eventually climbed up on it's back, he ended up facing the wrong way. When the ride started Judy thought his mount looked like it was trying to throw him off its back and she broke out in a series of warm chuckles. They spent the rest of the ride in outrageous laughter with Nick trying very hard not to fall off again.

After their last ride was over and they were out of tickets they stood around near the carousel trying to decide what to do next. It was early afternoon with many hours of daylight left and Judy wanted to spend every one of them here at the carnival.

"We've spent all our ride passes." Nick was explaining. "So what should we do next?"

"How about we grab another snack and then check out some of the games." Judy replied. "I really want to take home a prize or two to remember the fun we had today."

"Then just buy a t-shirt or something, Fluff."

"Naw, I was hoping my best friend, this sly fox I know, could win something." She smirked up at him and gave a sly wink.

"Sounds like a real gentlemammal you got there."

"I wonder about that sometimes, Slick."

The fox opened his muzzle to reply but was thrown to the ground as a darkly furred stoat ran into him and kept on going.

"What the hell." The rabbit exclaimed when her ears perked up and turned in the direction the stoat had come from.

A young pig came running up to chase after the tiny fleeing mammal. "Stop, stop thief." She was so winded that she almost collapsed in front of Judy.

Helping the other mammal back up to her feet the rabbit asked her what happened. "He took my purse, and now he's getting away."

A fierce determination filled her face as she looked around for the escaping thief. When she spotted the stoat, he disappeared around the corner of a red and yellow striped tent. She called out to her partner and took a step back. "Wilde, toss me!" She pushed off with her strong legs straight at the fox who was still on his knees.

When he saw the fierce rabbit charging straight at him he cupped his paws together moments before she stepped into them. He lifted her leg in his paws as he stood up at the same time, launching her into the air as a deadly missile of pure bunny fury.

Ears flapping in the breeze, she twisted her lithe body into a tight bullet shape and sailed over the crowds and got a great view of park. After a quick glance, she spotted the thieving ermine trying to make a straight line for the wall of hay bales. Rolling into a ball she landed on the roof of a large colorful tent, bounced off the soft material and pushed off with her powerful hind legs propelling herself back into the air.

The much lower arc quickly brought her to the top of the wall with the stoat still scampering up the side trying to haul the heavy purse in his teeth. With his escape assured, he failed to see the large rabbit paw brutally smash into his face knocking him from the wall to crash onto the hard ground below.

Quickly recovering from the fall, he flipped and spun back onto his feet. Making several blindingly fast leaping and spinning moves with his body, he picked up the huge purse and launched in the other direction.

Judy was not impressed with the mustelid's ameture acrobatic tricks and simply tackled him to the ground. With the much larger mammal trying to pin him down, he rolled and squirmed to get out of her grasp. He eventually managed to get the upper paw, and scampered onto her back and leapt for the hay bales once again, but was pulled up short by a sturdy metal chain causing him to land face first in the dirt.

Looking up from the hard ground he saw that both his paws were cuffed and linked to the rabbit's arm. He wasn't going anywhere now, so he turned to his captor, bared his tiny sharp teeth and let out a vicious snarl.

"Keep that up buddy and we will be forced to muzzle you." Came a familiar voice from behind her. She turned to glance over her shoulder and spotted Nick walking up carrying a well used roll of duct tape with about two inches of tape pulled out. He also had his badge clipped to his belt in plain view of the public, the young purse snatching victim followed him cautiously.

The fox looked down at the tape he had already drawn, shrugged his shoulders and tore the piece off before attaching it across the stoats mouth. He bent over to pick up the purse, returning it to the pig while she profusely thanked him.

Judy flashed the stoat her badge and read him his rights. "If you understand these rights as I have explained them to you, you can just mumble and nod." He nodded his head and screeched something unintelligible under the tape. "I'll take that as a yes." Turning back to her partner she asked him, "I don't suppose you brought your radio?"

He just shook his head and replied, "I guess we could always try and find the security office." Then he looked up at the young pig. "I'm sorry ma'am but you will have to come with us to make a statement to press charges."

"Of course." She said with disgust, turning her back on the cuffed and taped stoat pointing her snout in the air to be lead away by the smooth talking fox. Judy followed them with her prisoner in tow, half dragging, half carrying him as he futilely struggled to get free.

Turning the thief into the park's security office and making their reports they decided to return to the fun and games instead of waiting for the local ZPD to arrive. Besides, they didn't feel like chatting with any of the officers from the Meadowlands Precinct #6, but wanted to get back to enjoying their day off instead.

They took turns playing all of the different games that the carnival had to offer. Judy did well at most of the games of skill, while Nick seemed to excel more often where luck was involved. They didn't win every time, but came away with their fair share of prizes. At the ring toss Judy won a t-shirt that read "Don't call me Cute" while Nick managed to acquire one with the words "Trust Me" printed on the back. She still didn't know how he got away with it from that shifty guy at the water gun booth.

"Well if it isn't Foxy and Flopsie." They heard a familiar voice call out as they approached one of the game booths with colorful balloons pinned to the back wall.

"Duke Weaselton. What are you doing here?" Nick remarked snidely, leaning on the counter.

"Wouldn't you like to know pawpsicle guy."

"Yes we would." Judy said placing her paws down hard giving the weasel a mean glare.

"E-easy there c-cottontail." He jumped back from her glare stuttering. "It's an easy gig. I just stand here all day and get paid."

"Is that it?" The rabbit asked leaning closer to the weasley carney.

"Yeah, yeah. That's it."

"Then why don't I trust you?" Nick remarked casually.

"Alright." Duke's shifty eyes looked around the crowd and he even turned to peak behind the booth's curtain before he leaned over to whisper to two off duty cops. "Since we're all good friends here I'll let you in on the trick." He leaned over trying to whisper. "This guy who runs the place is a big card player. There's this big game planned this evening, after closing."

"Oh that's very interesting, but what's this go to do with you, Duke?"

"All the employees are invited, of course. I plan to make away big! No more hawking cheap DVDs for this weasel." He said proudly puffing up the chest of his bright and colorful carnival jersey.

"You know that unregistered gambling is illegal here. Maybe we should have a talk with this carnival manager, eh Nicky?" The rabbit said sideways smirking at her partner.

"No no no. Please, uh don't do that." Cried the weasel waving his paws in front of him as if they could somehow stop the overly anxious bunny.

She just continued to glare at him.

Duke quickly grabbed a pawfull of darts and held them up to them. "How about a free game for the lady, hmmm?"

"Make it two games and you got a deal." The fox added.

"Sure, sure. Here take these." He handed over another pawfull of darts.

"So what exactly do we have to do?"

"It's easy, Fluff. You just have to break the balloons like this." Nick threw a dart which gracefully flew through the air hitting a bright yellow balloon. The dart quickly bounced off the balloon and fell to the ground with its feathered tail standing straight up. Judy snickered and the weasel let out a loud guffaw.

"Yeah, you break three balloons in a row and win one of these rare plush toys." He gestured to the string of stuffed animals that lined his booth.

"Three in a row huh? Doesn't sound so hard." Nick;s next two shots missed entirely and his last one actually managed to break one of the white balloons.

"Good job." The weasel encouraged, clapping his paws, "care to try for another round?"

The todd scowled, "They pay you to say that don't they?"

"Yeah kinda." He shrugged. "But it always gets the suckers to buy more darts."

"It's my turn boys." The rabbit said pushing past the fox and stepping up to the counter with a strong overhand throw. Her first shot completely missed but went entirely through the back board.

"Damit, Flopsie. Easy on the super powers alright. I have to pay for any damages ya know."

Her next shot bounced off the balloon like Nick's had earlier causing the weasel to chuckle. Nick just nodded in her direction. She gritted her teeth and leaned into her next shot. The dart hit the balloon dead center and had enough force to pin it to the back wall where it hissed for a second and slowly deflated.

"What the hell is this?" She cried to the surprised weasel.

"Sorry, it must be a defective one." He said walking over and quickly pulled the dart and the balloon from the board and looked around hoping no one else saw it.

"It still counts tho." Nick interjected.

"Of course, of course. The lady still needs two more to win it."

The rabbit pulled her arm back preparing for a strong overhand throw, but as she was about the release Duke sneezed causing her shot to go wild sticking in the board next to a pretty pink balloon.

"Argh. You did that on purpose you dirty little cheat." She cried grabbing his collar pulling him across the counter.

"Whoa, easy Carrots. We don't want to cause a scene now. I'm sure it was just an accident, right Duke?"

"Yeah, yeah. An accident." He said straightening his shirt as she let him go. "She still has one dart left. Maybe she can get lucky."

Nick's eyes got very wide. "Lucky," he cried then mumbled something under his breath about even odds. He then leaned over and whispered into the rabbit's tall ears causing her to shiver and giggle, remembering the feeling of his claws on them earlier.

"Are you sure?" She asked looking up at him when he finished whispering.

"Mhmm." He nodded holding up his t-shirt.

She stepped back aiming for the center of the board and then started to swing her arm in a wide circle like she was winding up for a really big pitch. Suddenly her arm switched directions causing the dart to fly from her paw in an underhanded throw. The dart slowly flew high across the booth with three pairs of eyes following it through it's steep arc. It finally came straight down against the board in an almost vertical descent popping the top most balloon as it passed and every sequential one as it fell.

With that one single throw Judy had managed to pop five balloons in a row leaving the weasel standing completely shocked inside his booth.

"Yes!" She cheered jumping in the air and pumping her fists in excitement.

"I'd call that a win, wouldn't you say? Ah, Duke. Wake up, buddy."

"So we get to pick any of these prizes?" The rabbit asked.

""Um, I think I've got just the right one for ya, Darlin." Said the weasel shaking off his stunned expression. He reached up to the string of stuffed animals and pulled down a fluffy red fox wearing a green shirt.

"Oh, that's so adorable!" She squealed grabbing the doll from the carney's paws and gave it a big squeeze. "It looks just like you, Nick."

They spend the rest of the day wandering around nibbling on cotton candy and various other treats while looking into the other attractions. A grizzly bear wearing too many plastic beads looked into her crystal ball and read their paws. An old goat hummed a mysterious toon while drawing their caricatures. They even found an instant photo booth hidden in an out of the way corner behind some of the rides. The photos it took were all black and white and very blurry, but they still had a lot of fun sitting in the booth making wild and crazy faces for the camera.

It was very late when the sun started to set so they decided to leave with their treasures and take the long ride home. The sky was dark and filled with the twinkle of many distant stars when they finally arrived at the station nearest Judy's apartment. Nick walked with her up to the steps before saying good night and heading off to his own place.

She was so tired from the long exciting day that she barely changed into her night clothes and tossed the plushy fox next to her pile of rabbit dolls on her bed, before she fell into the pillows and was sound asleep in seconds.

Shortly before midnight the nightmare returned. This time she was running through the carnival grounds in the dark, being chased by the same burning orange eyes and drooling fangs. Somewhere in the direction of the distant city she could sense the musky smell of safety. She turned a corner and ran as fast as she could towards the safe scent when she suddenly hit the ground with a loud thump.

When she lifted her head she was back in her room laying on the floor beside her bed with a sore nose. She could still feel the eyes watching her from the shadows ready to pounce at any second. The scent of safety was right beside her. Hanging from the back of her desk chair was Nick's green shirt, where she had planned to return it to him the next time he stopped by, but had forgotten again. Without a second thought she pulled it off the chair and threw it around her shoulders climbing back into bed.

The nightmares fled and did not return again that night.

Moments after her head hit the pillow a series of soft chimes filled her room.

"Oh what is it now?" She grumbled raising from the bed with the sun shining brightly through her window. "It's morning already?" The chimes continued, coming from something resting on her desk.

"My phone." Scrambling to get out from under the covers she quickly raced over to the desk and answered the Muzzletime call.

"Oh hey, it's my mother."

"Hey bun bun," came the voice of Bonnie, whose grey fluffy image filled the screen. "How is the big city treating you these days?"

"It's alright. They keep me pretty busy at the ZPD, so I really don't get out all that much."

"That's too bad hun. You need to get out and have some fun sometimes. Like I've always said, all work and no play makes for a sad bun indeed."

"I know mom," she sighed. "I do go out for a jog in the park as often as I can."

"That's not what I mean. You should go make some friends, or try to meet a nice buck, or maybe a doe if that more your taste. Your father and I won't judge."

"Mom…" Judy cried putting her muzzle into her paws.

"What do other rabbit's do around the there anyways? We hardly know anything about the big city and we want to hear all about it. Your cousins moved out there a few years before you did but we never hear anything from them. It's up to you to give us all the details hun."

"Nick says the same thing, he promised to show me around the city when we have more time off."

"Nick! Who's this Nick?"

Exasperated Judy tried to explain. "I've already told you before, mom. I work with him."

"Oh, um. Was he the guy you were talking about before. The one you convinced to become a cop. You never told us what his name was hun so it's hard for to remember everything." Bonnie stated crossing her arms under her breasts.

"Sorry mom. But Nick also says I should get out more. Take the time to learn the city more, and to not be such an uptight super cop all the time."

"He calls you a 'super cop'?"

"Yeah, sometimes. Usually he just calls me 'Fluff' or 'Carrots'"

"Well that's sweet. Why in the world does he call you 'Carrots' though?" Bonnie's expression turned to one of motherly concern.

"Oh, it's a long story mom. But basically it's because I grew up as a carrot farmer."

"Well he must really like carrots then." Her mom said with a cheerful glint in her eye.

"Yeah, I guess..." Judy shrugged. "He really prefers blueberries though. I have just grown used to all the nicknames now."

"That's ok then. It's good to have cute nicknames between close friends. You are close right?" The older rabbit's expression turned serious as she glared at her daughter.

"Of course mom, he is my best friend after all. He took me to this big carnival yesterday where we had lots of fun. And on the train ride out there I was so stressed from work he helped me relax by rubbing my ears and…"

Bonnie sharply cut off her daughter and nearly shouted over the phone in shock. "You let him touch your ears?"

"Um, yeah, but it was nothing mom. He was just…" Judy stammered trying to calm her mother.

The older rabbit cut her off again. "Is this something I need to know about hun? Is he your," her voice lowered almost a whisper, "your boyfriend?"

"No! No mom we're just really good friends is all." Waving her arms across the phone like she could wipe the idea from her mother's mind.

Across the phone she could hear a voice yelling in the background. "Boyfriend!"

Her mother turned to look away from the camera. "Oh, Stu." she said as her husband came into view.

"My little 'Jude the Dude' has a boyfriend?"

"No dad. Nick is not my boyfriend."

"Then explain to me why you're dressed like that."

"Huh?" The young doe looked down at her clothes and realized she still had on Nick's green flowery shirt, and it wasn't even buttoned. "Eep." She squeaked quickly trying to cover her bare chest and fasten the buttons while not doing a good job of hiding the embarrassment from her parents.

"Why are you half dressed and wearing a 'Mans' shirt?" His shaking paw pointed at her across the miles.

"Now Stu, let me handle this ok…"

"Sure Bon, I've got help the boys warm up the tractors anyways." He waved his paw in the air and walked off camera.

Once Judy was done covering up her mother continued speaking. "He means well of course, and I think he is just a little excited."

"Please mom. There is nothing going on with us. I don't understand why you would even think that."

"Well if he is your friend that is a good thing then. Your father and I are just concerned for you, and we want you to be happy. You have always been different than the rest of your siblings, and never looked at any of the boys in school. Well, not since, um, you know…" She let her voice trail off for a second. "And we are happy to hear you're making friends in the big city."

"Yes, mom. I actually have several friends here. There is everyone at the ZPD, and a few mammals outside of work I can call friend. Plus Nick has always been here for me."

"This Nick is someone special though right?"

"Of course." Judy said rolling her eyes at the obvious question. "He is my best friend mom. That's it, nothing more."

"Ok bun bun, that's good then." Bonnie said, not convinced that her daughter was being entirely honest. "Speaking of best friends, you really should speak to Jenny. It's been a year since you two last talked, and she was very upset when you left. I think it's time to mended that broken fence don't you?"

"Yes, mom." Judy sighed again. "It's really not my fault thought."

"I know dear, but at least take the time to talk to your sister please. It would really mean a lot to her to hear from you once in awhile."

"Mom, she can always call me anytime. Why can't she just call whenever she wants to talk or something?" The younger rabbit pleaded.

"You know exactly why hun. You're always busy and she doesn't want to bother you. You work such odd hours all the time, none of us ever know when you're going to be free. Please just call when you're off next."

"Ok. I'm off today. Can you tell her that I will give her a ring after I've had a chance to wake up and get some breakfast."

"You got it sweetie." Bonnie's cheerful expression returned as she reached to press a furred paw to the phone.

"Before you go mom, I wanted to remind you about the reservations for your anniversary next month."

"Oh, yes. What about them?"

"I have the train tickets and the hotel reservations already set up so I will send you the details and mail out the tickets tomorrow."

"That's great news. Stu and I are really looking forward to coming to visit you and getting a look at the big city. We heard that it has changed so much since we were there for our honeymoon."

"Me too mom. I really want to show you guys around all the great places I see at work."

"Thanks hun. Now you have a great day off and tell your boy… ah, your, um friend we said hello, ok."

"I will mom." Judy said putting her paw to her shaking forehead as her mom hung up the call. "He's NOT my boyfriend."

* * *

 **[A/N] I really hope you like this extra long chapter. It is another talkie one with lots of fluff. This is the first big project I have written in a very long time so I really appreciate all the feedback I can get. It has been alot of work so please let me know what you think.**

 **This chapter has a couple of key elements to the story that really define why I gave it that title. With everything that is going on around them, both Nick and Judy fail to see the depth of their relationship. Her parents, and even Weaselton can see whats going on between them.**

 **I really had alot of fun writing the purse snatching scene. Stoats are also a natural predator of rabbits so it was pretty satisfying having Judy take him down so quickly.**

 **And now for the comments:**

 **gonekrazy3000: Thank you, I am glad your enjoying it. Don't worry, Bogo will get his moment soon enough ;)**


	8. Chapter 8 - Miniature Explosions

A wall of wind slammed into the back of the fox, ruffling his fur and causing him to stumble. Dust from the side of the road pelted the back of his dark blue uniform as the semi flew past. The driver was probably speeding, but another officer would have to deal with them since this fox already had a vehicle to deal with at the moment.

The road was part of the massive system of highways that ran through and around the city. Even though this section was elevated above the surrounding buildings, the high retaining walls prevented him from enjoying the local view.

Walking close to the white line that marked the limits of the drivable zone, he slowly approached a minivan sitting on the shoulder. The vehicle's turn signal was still blinking with a regular pulse, but it eventually stopped once he got closer. He caught a glimpse of the driver through the side view mirror. It was a female prey mammal, and he could also make out what looked like horns from the shadows that managed to escape through the dark windows. Another gust of wind brushed across his back causing him to step farther away from the edge of the lane.

Flashing red and blue lights reflected off the rear window of the dark blue minivan in front of him. Since he had left his aviator sunglasses sitting on the dresser this morning, the bright lights contrasting with the dull gray sky caused him to wince in pain. He could also make out the reflection of his partner sitting in the squad car and talking to someone on her phone. It was probably her parents again. That thought brought with it a pangs of guilt. When was the last time he spoke to his own mother? Six months? A year? No, it had been only a few days before he met that dumb rabbit who inevitably changed his life.

Her image slowly came to mind. Those long ears, like radar dishes that caught even the smallest cries for help. And that tiny twitchy nose, always eager to find the next clue. The softest paws... and those huge feet!

The todd viciously shook his head to clear his mind. Focus, Wilde! He almost spoke the words aloud.

Approaching the passenger side of the van, he casually tapped on the window. The driver, an antelope in a flowery pink blouse, had already rolled down her window, expecting the officer to approach from the driver side. After a few near misses, the fox had learned that it was much safer to stand on the opposite side of the vehicle as the traffic when on the freeway. After a few moments of tapping his fingers on the glass, the window in front of him slowly rolled down. "Good morning officer," the antelope said, with a smile on her face that did little to cover the obvious tension in her voice.

"Hello, I'm Officer Wilde. Do you know why I pulled you over today?" the fox asked.

"Um, well, ah, not really," she said with her voice a little shaky.

"I was going 65 miles an hour in the far lane and you blew past me like I was standing still. May I see your license, registration and proof of insurance, please?"

"Oh! I'm sorry," she apologized while rummaging through her glove compartment for the requested papers, then handed those over, along with the driver's license that she'd already taken out of her wallet.

"Can you explain why you're in such a hurry today ma'am?"

"Well, you see, I was taking my son to the doctor, and," she paused mid-sentence and turned to look at the three children in the back seat. The youngest one, who looked to be about five years old, was obviously sniffling and coughing. The two older ones looked almost identical to their mother, however, the little one, sitting in the middle of the long bench seat, appeared almost out of place between them. His fur was covered in a nearly hypnotic pattern of dark and light stripes, and his muzzle was much broader than those of his siblings.

After some careful thought the todd replied, "If this was some kind of emergency you should have called an ambulance."

The antelope's concern suddenly turned to shock and she shook her head saying, "No, no. No it's, it's not an emergency! I was just so worried that I wasn't paying any attention to how fast I was going is all."

"Alright then, just wait here while I get these processed," he motioned with the papers in his paws, "and I will be right back." He then casually strolled back to his car and climbed into the driver's seat.

The interior of the squad car always felt a little cramped to him, even for a small mammal like a fox. All the communication and policing tech that was built into it left little room for anything else. It didn't even have cup holders, so he was constantly having to find creative ways to place his morning coffee so it wouldn't spill when his overly excited partner was driving.

"Maybe that's why I always feel so cramped in the driver seat," he thought, "all the controls are set for a rabbit's height. I really should have let her drive today." Looking over at the well groomed rabbit sitting in the passenger seat he passed her the antelope's papers, but she just ignored him still chatting away on her phone.

"Ok mom, I gotta go back to work now. Thanks for calling, and yes I will remember to call you this evening. Ok bye," the uniformed rabbit spoke into her phone before quickly hanging up. When she finally took the proffered papers from her partner, and glancing at them quickly, she replied, "Antelope, huh? So Nick, what was the excuse this time?"

"Just another one of those 'Taking my son to the doctor kind," he shrugged slightly, while looking through the rear view mirror with feigned disinterest.

"Typical," the rabbit exclaimed entering the licensing info into the police computer mounted between them.

"It was strange though", Nick commented.

"What do you mean strange?"

"Her son had stripes more like a zebra than an antelope"

"Maybe a kudo?"

The fox shook his say exclaiming, "No, definitely not a kudo, the muzzle was all wrong."

Judy looked up from her typing with a curious glint in her eyes, "What's so wrong about it anyways? He might have been adopted."

"Yeah, I guess you could be right." However at that moment his curiously foxy mind kicked into high gear, "but isn't Zootopia General several miles away, and in the other direction?"

"Nick! You're really not thinking this morning are you?"

"Huh, what's that supposed to mean?" He took another sip of his still warm coffee.

"It means, Dumb Fox, that she was probably going to a private clinic instead."

"Oh…"

"Family doctors have offices all over town, not just in the big, fancy hospitals ya know." She emphasized her point by waving the other driver's Id in front of his nose. "And besides isn't there a family planning clinic just right down the road?" Not waiting for an answer, she quickly turned her attention back to the laptop.

After a few moments of typing she looked up again, "Now if you want to see something strange, take a look these records." She swiveled the laptop around so he could read the screen.

Looking at the screen, the fox's eyes widened and his brow raised slightly. "Oh, wow! Looks like Officer Growler pulled her over last month too, and in almost exactly the same spot!"

"Yep!", the bunny nodded, "And, look at the reason."

He chuckled slightly when he read the next line, "Same reason given. Growler notes she was taking her son to the hospital. This is almost too funny Carrots." Then he turned the screen back to his partner to let her finish the report.

Several more seconds of typing and the bunny looked up from the screen again. "she's got an arrest record too."

"Not surprised."

"It was only 5 years ago."

"Now, you have got me curious. What was it for?" He said looking to his partner with a bright gleam in his eye.

"Nothing serious, just a minor vandalism charge, oh, and indecent exposure."

Nick chuckled again almost spilling his coffee this time, "Indecent exposure?"

"Yeah, looks like she broke a window, then mooned the cops during some kind of civil protest five years ago."

"That's all very interesting, sweetheart, and I love digging into other mammal's records, but what does that have to do with this current moving violation?" he asked pointing at the family vehicle in front of them.

The rabbit only frowned at his comment and replied, "Not much really, no warrants or anything else suspicious. But with the warning from last month, we can charge her the full amount for speeding."

"Oh, well I do kind of feel bad for her though. I don't think the kid was faking it just to get mom out of another speeding ticket."

"Whatever you say, partner." She handed him the completed citation forms, "One minimally fined ticket for going 20 miles over the speed limit."

"Thanks, Officer Hopps," he said winking at her as he climbed out of the cruiser with the citation in hand.

"And your welcome, Officer Wilde," she replied, watching him close the driver's door with a smile. Her smile broadened and her ears stood up sharply as she watched him saunter over to the minivan, wagging his tail the entire way. "What a show off!"

As Nick approached the vehicle he heard a loud string of sneezes coming from the backseat and a female voice trying to calm her child, "Here you go sweetie, here are some more Kleenexes. That will have to last until we can get to the doctor's office, ok?"

The only reply came as several more sneezes and a loud cough.

"Is everything alright here?" Officer Wilde asked with genuine concern.

The antelope looked up suddenly, surprised to see the uniformed fox standing at the window again. "Yeah, yeah, were just fine," the sarcasm barely audible in her voice. "He's always like this. It's just," she lowered her eyes trying not to look a the mammal outside her window. "It's just the last few months seem to be getting worse, and we really don't know what to do."

"I am sorry to hear that ma'am."

"It's ok," she looked back up him and smiled slightly.

"Now, I need you to sign the bottom of this form. It states here," he pointed to a paragraph half way down the sheet, "that you were going 20 miles over the speed limit and will be fined the amount listed below."

"Ok," she took the citation from him and began to look over the words carefully.

He continued his speech, "You have 30 days from today to appear in court at the address listed at the bottom of the form, to either contest the citation or pay the fine. You also have the option of paying the fine online, at the website listed there, and the optional ways to make payments, regarding fines."

"Oh. Um, thank you officer," she said, signing and handing the form back to him.

He tore off the bottom copy and passed it back to her, "This is your copy ma'am."

"Thanks."

"I hope your son gets better soon, and PLEASE drive more carefully next time." He then turned and slowly walked back to the police car.

While climbing back into his own driver's seat, he watched the minivan carefully pull back into traffic. Sitting down, he looked over at his partner to make a suggestion for lunch, but she suddenly grabbed his muzzle and held it closed. The rabbit then held up one finger in front of her lips and let out a soft hissing sound, "Shhh," then pointed at the police radio.

Oddly the radio was giving off a lot of static and Nick could barely understand any of the garbled words. The radio must have been on the fritz again. He tried to adjust the dial slightly attempting to get a better signal and then turned up the volume so that his largish fox ears might be able to hear better over all the static. Then the dispatcher's voice came through again. It was still very garbled but much louder this time and Nick was able to make out most of what was said.

"Repeat, shhhhzzz, 10-79 in progress, shzzzztss, JM Lemuris Middle shhhuulzzzt, any unizzzzzzt, lease respond shhhhhhh."

The fox looked puzzled, "Whats a 10-79 again?"

"Barely out of the academy and you've already forgotten your radio codes?" the rabbit punched him in the arm, hard this time, because he was being a 'dumb fox' again.

"Oww! Gee thanks. There are over 300 codes and I still don't remember what the difference between all the As, Bs, and C,s are, " he explained. "I know that 80 was for an explosion but what's 79?"

"Well if you know 80 then 79 should be easy Slick." She slowly winked at him.

Ignoring the wink he replied, "Sorry. Unlike some over achieving rabbit I know, I just don't remember if it was an 'Explosive Device Found' or the 'Bomb Threat' one."

"It's a bomb threat dummy, and at a middle school too. We better go check it out."

"That school is two blocks from here!" the fox exclaimed before putting the car into gear and hitting the sirens. He put his paw down hard on the excelerator and the car leapt forward with a loud growl.

Judy grabbed the mic pressing down hard on the button in her excitement. "This is Officers Hopps and Wilde responding. We are on the I-10 overpass near the Coolidge exit, ETA to Lemuris Middle School is 2 minutes."

After several seconds the radio responded with a short series of jumbled words and static, "ssstzzzger Hoppsssszzz Wilde shhhsssire department already on ssssssszzztsssss."

Hanging the radio mic back on its clip the rabbit jumped up and down in her seat, "Punch it Nick!"

"What? I'm already going 90!" The fox exclaimed while swerving on to the nearest off ramp. He had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting several cars sitting at the bottom of the ramp waiting for the red light to turn green. After the light changed, he made a quick turn and sped up again. A minute later they could make out the middle school.

The school was one of the old fashioned modeled schools made from red bricks. It was not a very large building, but was fairly spread out and surrounded by a large, grassy field and playgrounds. In the field were at least a dozen groups of small and medium sized mammals, all lined up and standing as far away from the building as they could, while still staying on the school grounds. Each group of children was accompanied by at least one adult, while another group of adults was milling around in the parking lot fairly close to the building.

The parking lot, unfortunately, was on the other side of the building from them, so they were forced to drive all the way around. When the car finally managed to pull into the lot, Nick had to swerve to avoid hitting a black and green Tusker SUZ that was quickly exiting the scene. He also had to avoid a couple of fire trucks that had arrived prior to them, before he could park the cruiser near the small crowd of medium sized adult mammals.

Before either of the two officers could get out of their car an old meerkat exited the crowd and walked up to them, and stated in a gruff and demanding voice, "Finally, the police arrive. What are you going to do about this?" She looked directly at Nick with her fists on her hips like the whole mess was somehow his fault.

She was dressed in a light brown business suit, a tasteful long skirt and a pair of fashionable blue shoes. The whole ensemble was far too expensive for your average teacher's salary. One of those fancy shoes tapped impatiently waiting for either of the officers to respond.

"Excuse me ma'am, " Nick said, "I am Officer Wilde and this is Officer Hopps. What can we do to help?" He closed the car door and stepped up on the sidewalk approaching the fancy and formal meerkat.

The meerkat folded her arms in front of her chest and raised her voice as if she was speaking to a crowd and not to a mammal two feet in front of her, "I am principal Foosa, and it has been over ten minutes since ..."

Nick immediately realized he was going to have to take a firm hand with this principal or she was going to run over them like a stampeding water buffalo, so he promptly cut her off, "Were you able to get everyone out of the building ma'am?"

"What?" she asked gruffly and a little shocked at being cut off. "Yes? Oh, yes! Everyone has been accounted for, even the new janitor. We had a few stragglers but …"

Cutting her off again, to kept the conversation focused on the facts, he asked, "Can you tell us what happened, and start from the beginning please." He nodded to Judy who promptly pulled out a pad of paper and her carrot pen and began jotting down notes.

"Well, all of the older students were helping to get ready for our end of year Indlamu, when that evil mammal called to threaten the entire school."

Two fluffy ears stood straight up and the curious rabbit asked, "What is an Indlamu?"

"Oh I'm sorry, " the principal seem surprised that the small officer didn't know what she meant. "It's a social event we have on the last day of school, to help the older children be prepared any dances they might attend in high school."

"Oh I've never heard of it out in Bunny Burrow."

"It's new to me too, Carrots."

The older mammal seemed almost annoyed at the fox's nickname for his partner but continued to explain. "Well the event is kind of like a Sadie Hawkins, but the last couple of years we have encouraged the kitts to pick different kinds of partners. Yes, we know that mammals of different sizes and shapes can be difficult to dance with, but it is meant to be a learning experience to help the children grow and make new friends."

"We never had anything like that when I went to school," the fox finally noted.

"It is quite new, and we are the only school in the city that has anything like our Indlamu. The first one was such a success that we decided to make it a tradition here at JM Lemuris." Her eyes turned hard and fierce glaring at Nick while pointing a well manicured claw at him. "And this was to be our third year, but out of the blue some mammal calls and tells me to cancel the dance or they will blow up the building!" She then pulls a carefully folded piece of paper from her jacket pocket and hands it to the fox. "This was also in my mail this morning. I didn't think anything of it until the call a few minutes ago. That's when I called the police and the fire alarm went off."

Nick unfolded the paper to look upon several very crude crayon markings with a vague resemblance to the building in front of him. The one thing that caught his eye were the red lines and puffs of smoke coming out of the roof, and the small crying stick figures upside down in the sky. He casually handed the picture to Judy, and once again turned to face the snobbish principal, "Do you have any other evidence of the threat ma'am? Other notes, drawings or phone calls besides today."

"None that I can think of, no." she said, shaking her head.

"Did anyone else hear the threat on the phone, or see anything strange going on in the last couple of days?" Again the meerkat shook her head.

Judy stopped scribbling on her note pad for a second and asked, "Do you know anywhere in the building that might be a good place to hide a bomb?"

"Um not really. Well actually yeah, there are lots of cabinets and cubbies in every classroom but they are usually locked tight most of the time. Only the teachers, and the janitor have the keys though. There are the gym locker rooms too, and the music room, and the wood shop, and the kitchen, and gee, the halls are lined with student lockers, now that I think about it, there isn't anywhere that you couldn't hid something nefarious." Her voice rose several octaves, "Oh my god, what are we going to do?"

"Please calm down ma'am. We'll be bringing in a specialist," Nick explained, "An expert in sniffing out these kinds of things."

While Nick and Judy were continuing to question the principal, three small mammals were arguing in the grass several feet away.

"We should get back to our groups, your going to get us in trouble." the young ferret was trying to explain to her chinchilla friend.

"We have to tell someone what we saw. And besides I know that cop," the chinchilla said pointing at Judy.

"You mean, 'what YOU saw,' and since when are you friends with a cop?" said a fluffy squirrel while pointing a claw at his rotund friend.

"None of the rest of us saw anything," the ferret agreed.

"I'm not exactly friends with a cop," the small round rodent explained draw out the word 'exactly' to its vernacular limits. "But I have seen her on the TV a lot of times and I heard she is really nice."

"More like 'once'. She was only on TV once."

"I saw her twice," added the ferret, "and she does seem kinda nice. But I am not going anywhere near that mean fox talking to Mrs Foosa!"

"Oh really," cried the squirrel. "He doesn't look all that bad to me! In fact, I bet you I could do a triple flip off his back and land on his shoulders!"

"Could not!" yelled the ferret"

"Could too!"

"Could not!"

"Could too. Watch me!" Then the young squirrel scampered towards the uniformed fox as fast as his little legs could go. The ferret hot on his tail yelling "Could not, could not, could not!" When they reached the fox they began running circles around his legs. After three laps around the confused fox the squirrel made a leap for Nick and began to clamber up the back of his legs.

The meerkat principal saw what the children were doing and immediately clapped her paws together twice. "Children, stop that this instance! What have we told you about climbing on other mammals without permission?"

"Sorry Mrs Foosa," both children said lowering their heads shamefully towards the principal, and the little squirrel let go of Nick.

"Now apologize to Officer Wilde!" This, she directed at the young squirrel.

"I'm sorry for climbing on you, Officer Wilde," he said, with a shameful swish of his tail.

"It's ok kitts," Nick replied, "But don't do it again or I might have to arrest you." This got their attention and the both stood up straight and exclaimed, "Yes, Sir!"

Through all this the chinchilla casually sauntered up to Judy. "Officer Hopps, we have something, very important to tell you."

"Now now children," the principal said scowling down at all three of them. "Run along now, back to your classes. You shouldn't be bothering these nice cops right now.

"But this is VERY important! And we have to tell someone about the fire alarm right away," the young rodent said, never taking his eyes off Judy.

"The fire alarm you say?" The chinchilla nodded vigorously to the rabbit. "Go on, let's hear what they have to say." Judy carefully pressed the record button on her carrot pen she held behind her back.

"Ok, but we have to tell you about the stranger first."

"What stranger?" the rabbit asked.

"There was this strange goat dressed like a janitor coming out of the boys room. He was carrying a strange bucket with him too."

"It was a female," the little ferret cried.

"No, I saw his face. That goat was definitely male," the chinchilla countered.

"Yeah, I saw his face too," the squirrel decided to add.

"Are all boys blind? Males don't walk the same as a females," and she began strutting about with a very pronounced hip swish that made the squirrel's eyes bulge. "And that stranger was definitely walking like this." After a few more struts, she stopped and stuck her tongue out at the confused squirrel.

"Ok, but that's not the important part." exclaimed the young rodent ignoring his two friends. "The important part is what I found in the bathroom!"

Judy leaned over putting her hands on her knees with a serious expression on her face and looked straight at the small, gray mammal in front of her. She was all business now. "What did you find in the bathroom?"

"I, I don't really know what it was," he said turning away trying to avoid the rabbit's intense glare. "It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. I didn't realize it was even there at first, but then I spotted some wires sticking out from behind the largest toilet in the other stall, so I went over there to get a better look at it. And there was this black metal tube with wires coming out both ends. Some of the wires were connected to a weird clock and some others were connected to an old phone like my mom used to have around the house when I was little. And the whole thing smelled strange like gasoline and sugar. That's when I decided to pull the fire alarm!"

At the word 'clock' the fox took off at a sprint towards the school, not even waiting for the small mammal to finish his story. Once Judy realized what he was doing she started after him. "Nick wait! Stop Nick, we have to wait for the sniffers to get here. Nick!" She was almost crying as she ran after him, but he was too far ahead and too focused on reaching the bomb to notice her.

The fox officer quickly rushed inside the school with the door slamming shut behind him before his rabbit partner could reach it. The sound of the fire alarm from inside blared painfully in her large ears. No one had bothered to shut it off yet. In fact everyone else was a afraid to even enter the building, except her 'Dumb Fox.' Where was he, she thought looking around the large entrance.

"Nick!" she yelled down the empty halls hoping to be heard over the obnoxious alarm. "Nick get your foxy butt back here!" There was no reply.

The door to the principal's office could be seen directly off the foyer, but then the hall split into two different directions. She choose one and rushed down it in hopes of spotting her partner before anything bad happened to him. Halfway down the hall, she heard a door slam from around a corner. With a fierce shove, her two large bunny paws propelled her body down the hall even faster.

She barely reached the turn in time to spot a familiar red and black tail disappear down another hallway. "Not again!" she said. Suddenly this all felt so familiar, like she had done this before. Chasing that dumb fox around twisting corners and through dark alleys was nothing new to the fit bunny. "Nick wait, dammit!"

Near the end of that second hallway she spotted a door with an image of a male mammal on the front. Not stopping to take more than a cursory glance at it, she sped past in pursuit of the rogue tail.

"What is wrong with that fox today? He could never outrun me like this before. What has gotten into him?" The thoughts racing through her mind as she spotted another glimpse of that black tipped tail as it vanished around another corner.

"NICK!"

"Maybe he can't hear me over this siren." she thought.

Charging around the next corner she spotted him ducking into another door with a male mammal symbol marked on it.

"I've got you now, you infuriating mammal!"

It only took her a moment to decide if she should enter the boys restroom. This wasn't some high school sneak and peek while trying to catch a boy indisposed. They were looking for a bomb, and if it was in the little boys room, then that is where she had to go!

The rabbit took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders before speaking to herself, "You can do this Judith." Then she kicked open the door like a cop at a drug bust. The door promptly swung open wide, then closed just as fiercely, almost smashing her face and chipping her large buck teeth. Rubbing her nose to stop the pain she push the door open a bit more carefully.

"Nick!"

"Carrots! What are you doing here?" He turned and looked up at her, his paw pushing open the stall at the far end of the room. "It's dangerous, you shouldn't be here!"

"I could say the same about you! We're supposed to wait for the bomb squad!" the frustration in her voice echoed loudly in the empty bathroom.

"It's going to be ok, Fluff. I'll take care of everything," the heavy bravado thick on his voice as he slipped through the stall door. "Please, just go back outside and help Mrs Foosa with those kitts while I take care of this."

The expression on her face turned cold and even downright vicious, "You ignorant, stupid, dumb fox!" Kicking open the stall door, she spotted her partner down on all fours reaching for something behind the large toilet. If she wasn't so angry at him at the moment, the sight of his large foxy posterior and fluffy tail might have brought a crimson blush to her cheeks, but she was too furious at his wreckless antics to notice. "How DARE you think for one damn minute that I am going to let you handle something like this on your own!"

"I am not going to let anyone get hurt today, especially all those small kitts out in the yard," he tried to explain, pulling something large and black and covered in wires from behind the commode. It almost looked like some weird kind of techno spider.

"What about me Nick?" Her shrill voice was almost a scream inside that tiny tiled room. "What happens to ME when you get yourself blown up, and I am left without a partner or a friend?"

The fox never noticed the stream of tears running down her face as he handed her the strange device. "Here."

"Oh." One look at the ticking timer on the top of the bomb and her expression turned very firm and business like. "What do we do now Slick? There is barely a minute left and we might be able to make it outside if we run now."

"No, We cut the wires!"

"Which one?"

"The red one. In the movies they always cut the red one, or was it the blue one?"

"This isn't a movie Nick, and besides I don't have any wire cutters."

"Use your utility knife!"

"Ok," pulling the sharp bladed object from her belt she tried to cut one of the wires but it was no use. They would not cut, "I can't cut them Nick. My knife is too small. Try yours instead."

The timer was getting dangerously low as Nick finally pulled out a large knife. Unlike Judy's small blade, half of this one had a serrated edge and would slice through the wires with ease. "Which ones," the fox cried.

Judy thought about it for a second before exclaiming, "Cut all of them. Cut all of the wires!"

With one swift stroke Nick sliced through all of the wires between the cylinder and the timer. All of the lights on the device immediately shut off, however the ancient cell phone also lit up. The fox immediately cut those wires too, only moments before the phone started to ring.

Looking at the rabbit in puzzlement he casually said, "Go on, answer it." So she did.

"Hello," she said after pushing the receiver button on the front of the phone.

The husky male voice coming through the device sounded relieved, "Henry? Finally!"

"No,' said the rabbit holding the phone up to her ear, "this is Officer Hopps. Who am I speaking too?"

"Where is Henry? This is his number right? I know it must be, cuz he gave it to me personally."

"I'm sorry. Henry isn't here right now, but if you give me your name maybe we can help you find him." Nick winked at her and mouthed the words 'Clever Bunny.' Her silent reply looked a lot like 'Dumb Fox.'

"Damit," said the now irritated voice, and the phone went dead. Judy quickly hit the redial button and let it ring for several moments, but there was no answer.

She hung up and directly dialed another number. This time the other end picked up promptly "ZPD emergency hotline, how can I help you?"

Judy almost yelled into the tiny speaker on the very old and outdated phone. "Clawhouser! This is Officer Hopps, I need you to trace the location of the last call made to this number ASAP!"

"Ok, I'm on it Judy," the cheetah on the other end replied.

"Thank you," said the rabbit and then hit the cancel button ending the call.

Nick, looking at his partner with pride and proclaimed, "You can be brilliant sometimes!"

The expression on the rabbit's face slowly changed to one full of fury. She dropped the phone and the rest of the bomb parts on the floor and began to pumble her partner with a pair of tiny tight fists. "You are the stupidest, dumbest, most incorrigible damn fox ever! Don't you ever do something like that to me again or so help me, I will... I will... I'm gonna..." The anger boiling up inside that tiny furry body was so great, that it would not let her finish the statement, and she was so blinded she didn't notice that she had socked Nick in the muzzle several times and his nose was slowly starting to bleed.

"Oww, Judy stop! Please stop. I am sorry. Ouch!" The bruised and bloodied fox tried to grab those furious paws in an attempt to calm her, but she just kept on swinging, and crying at the same time. He only managed to catch the flying paws of fury when the phone began to ring.

"I hate you so much right now."

"Judy, the phone," said Nick, ignoring her hurtful words, and motioned to the device laying on the tiled floor in a pile of wires and bomb parts.

"Oh no, Clawhouser!"

With her paws still shaking, she carefully picked up the cell phone, hit the call button and spoke in the receiver. "Yes?" She turned away from the fox ignoring him and pressed the phone to her ear. "That's great Clawhouser, what did you find?" Her ears perked up and her nose began to twitch enthusiastically. "A phone booth, oh really? Do you have an address?" Pulling out her notepad she scribbled a few notes in it. "Bus stop on the corner of Coolidge and Harriet? Thanks buddy." Pressing the cancel button, she hung up the phone and handed it to Nick.

"So what did Spotts have to say?"

"The call came from a payphone, and it's across the street." She grabbed Nicks paw and began to exit the bathroom stall. "That means the perp is across the street right now. Come on, we have to hurry Nick!" Judy exclaimed, running through the little boy's room door and down the hall with Nick hot on her heels. Now it was his turn to chase after her, and she always won this kind of race.

In the hall outside the bathroom were two large boar in full body armor and carrying kevlar lined shields. On the front of their armor and shields were four bold white letters, TUSK.

"Wilde! What are you and Hopps doing here?" one of them asked as Nick ran past.

"Sorry fellas, can't talk now. Hopps thinks she knows where the perp is. Will tell you more later." the fox explained before turning a corner in pursuit of his cute, little, fluffy partner.

Soft furry paws struck the floor in front of him in a steady rhythm. A plush cotton tail swayed back and forth atop the round, blue rump, hypnotizing the slower fox and causing his pace to wane even further. He was forced to close his eyes and shake his head in order to clear his mind of all the thoughts of cuteness that were trying to take over his brain. The next thing he knew his body slammed into the side exit door his partner had just run through.

When he joined her outside, she was standing on her toes in the grass with her ears straight up and her nose pointed up in the air twitching faster than he had ever seen it move before. Her head swiveled back and forth and she raised a paw to her brow like she would to block out the glare from the sun, even though the sky was still gray and cloudy.

"What is it sweetheart, do you see anything?"

"There!" she pointed with the paw that was previously shading her eyebrow. Across the field where she was pointing, sat one of the typical electric driven city busses. Not even waiting for her partners reply, she took off again, sprinting through the tall green grass. In the fox''s mind, it appeared as if she was pleasantly hopping over the grass instead of running as fast as she could after a possibly dangerous criminal.

It only took a moment to clear the daydreams and quickly follow after her. He reached the bus stop seconds after she did, however it was already too late. The bus was long gone, heading towards its next stop. Luckily, a young mammal was still sitting on the waiting bench. She was wearing a pair of overalls and a light blue pullover with the hood up, and had a fashion magazine in front of her muzzle. The magazine was several months out of date with a sexy gazelle on the cover showing off an attractive winter coat. A large purse sat next to the mammal on the opposite side of her from the two cops. Nick thought she might have been a coyote or a hyena but could not be too sure with her head covered like it was.

Judy was already interrogating the pour girl, who seemed like she only wanted to be left alone. "Did you see anyone using this payphone recently?"

"Um, yeah, sure." the coyote replied, keeping her muzzle deep in the pages of the old magazine.

"Can you tell us which way he went?" the rabbit inquired.

"Yeah, he got on the last bus a few minutes ago." Nick caught the witness's strange emphasis on the word 'he' when she answered his partner's last question, but Judy either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Come on Nick," she took off again, this time running towards the school parking lot where they had left their squad car.

A brief sprint later and he had reached the squad car, but the exuberant bunny was already there waiting and yelling for him to get his lazy tail in here. "Shesh," he thought, I've been running for almost 5 straight minutes, "I can never keep up with this hyperactive bunny."

Climbing into the driver's seat he started the engine and carefully exited the school parking lot heading in the direction the young coyote said the bus had went. "Some mammals have no sense of fashion," he exclaimed to his partner.

"What's that?" she said, still intently focused on the chase.

"I mean who wears overalls anymore? And did you see those foot coverings." the fox commented with a hint of disgust.

"What foot covers?"

"Those boots on her hind paws! They made her look like she had hoofs. Disgusting!" Shaking his head, he turned the next corner and they spotted the bus they were looking for, sitting on the side of the road at the next stop. Nick quickly pulled in behind them, but the bus began to take off again. He quickly hit the siren and the bus pulled back over to the side of the road.

In an instant, both Nick and Judy leapt from their police car and approached the front door of the stopped bus, paws on holsters. When the sliding doors opened, Judy pointed her dart gun at the driver and shouted, "ZPD, don't move!" The driver promptly raised his hands in the air and said, "Yes ma'am."

"Shut your engine off and stay where you are." Turning to her partner, she added, "Cover me," then she climbed inside the bus and proceeded to the passenger compartment to leave Nick watching the driver.

This time of day, there were only a few mammals on the bus, some going to work while others were returning home from a late night. In the seat nearest the driver was an old brown bear sitting next to a large grocery bag that was only half full of food stuffs. A few seats back a smallish cougar was resting his head against the window with his eyes closed. The only other mammals on the bus were three badger females sitting near the back gossiping about shoes, and males. The suspect described by the children earlier was nowhere to be seen. She even walked all the way to the back of the bus and looked under the seats, but he wasn't on the bus.

She returned to the driver and asked if he had seen anything. "Did a goat or ibex come on this bus recently?"

"No ma'am. I ain't seen no'un like that today."

"How about anyone using the payphone at the last stop?" the fox interjected.

"Nope, that phone hasna' worked in years, since befo' I started drevin' this route. Thems were spose'ta have ripped it out years ago. So's I duna' know how is possible sum'a coulda been use'n it at all." His accent was nigh incomprehensible but they were able to make out the gist of what the old driver ment.

* * *

Hours latter, the two diminutive cops found themselves sitting together on the large, stiff, plastic chair in their boss's office. A very large and very angry water buffalo was shouting at them from the far side of the desk. His eyes glowed a fiery red and Nick would swear later that smoke was literally rolling from his ears. The great hoofed fist of Zootopia's finest police chief slammed down on the top of his desk, causing both the fox and rabbit officers to jump in their seat. "What the heck were the two of you thinking! You could have gotten yourselves killed, and I would have instantly lost two of mine finest, if not youngest officers, both at the same time!"

"But sir. We got the description of the perp, and the bomb's location, from the children who witnessed everything. Plus they were the ones who pulled the…"

"Shut your tiny mouth now! And that goes for you too Wilde. Not a word out of either of you." It wasn't the words so much as the snarl, that cause them to close their muzzles and sit back in there chairs, heads hung low.

"Your blatant disregard for protocol, and refusal to wait for backup in this situation is grounds for suspension, possibly even termination!"

The rabbit officer's ear perked up and she stood up looking directly into her boss's angry eyes to say in their defense, "But we found the bomb, and disarmed it, and we found out where he was calling from."

The buffalo only snorted. "Your brief encounter with an exploding train last time does not suddenly make you demolitions experts. No, you only found one of the bombs."

Judy lifted her head up towards him with a puzzled look on her face and slowly sat back down.

"That's right, there were two other bombs on the premises. The T.U.S.K. sniffers found one in the janitor's closet and the other in the ceiling above the school gym. If you had waited for backup then you would have found this out. But instead you both rushed into a highly dangerous situation without any skills or prior training, and proceeded to 'handle' it yourselves."

In an attempt to protest, the rabbit stood up again, but before she could utter a word the buffalo swiped his arm through the air to preemptively cancel her objections. "No! T.U.S.K. officers are trained and is skilled in the use of equipment for handling these kinds of situations. Neither of you have even been here for a more than year, and have yet, it seems, learned how not to rush into things."

"But the building sir…" she barely managed to get those few words out before her boss snarled again.

"Is far less valuable than the lives of any of my officers. Protocols are not to be taken lightly and "only there when it suits you"!. They are there to protect your lives and the lives of the officers around you. Is that clear?"

The red fox lifted a finger with a snarky expression on his face, but was quickly cut off.

"The only thing I want to hear out of your muzzle Wilde, are the words, 'Yes sir'"

"Yes, Sir!"

The chief looked over at his smallest officer, "And is that clear Hopps?"

"Yes, Sir!" She stood and sharply saluted him.

"Now, in order to teach you both to follow the rules, I am going to have to suspend you til the end of the week."

:"But it's already Tuesday chief." the fox interjected.

"Shall we make it two weeks then?"

"No Sir."

"Then you are both dismissed, hand over your badges and get out of my office. I don't want to see either of your muzzles until Friday. And when you get back, I will personally make sure you have so much paperwork, that you will be stuck to your desks for the next month! Now get out of my office."

"Yes sir!" the both exclaimed. Removing their badges, they placed them on the large buffalo's desk and headed for the door.

"Well that was fun," Nick commented trying to cheer up the sad looking bunny by his side, "maybe we should go get some…"

"Please don't talk to me right now, ok Nick?"

"Sure, whatever you say Carrots." he said stopping cold in his tracks.

After about five more steps, Judy stopped and said, "Maybe I will call you later, or in a few days, once I am no longer mad at you." But before she walked away she turned back to look at her fox one more time.

He just gave her a quick wink, she turned forward in a huff and slowly walked out of the precinct.

* * *

Later that evening in Judy's apartment her phone was blinking. The text message from her mom read - Hey bun bun. Hope everything is ok. You never called me back.

She lifted the phone off her desk and replied - Sorry, rough day at work. Will tell you about it later.

\- Ok hun. Have a good night. Love you.

\- Love you too mom

Shutting off the lamp she lay back in her bed and cuddled up with her newest plush toy, a red fox with big green eyes. "I hate you dumb fox," she told it with tears streaming down her cheeks and across her nose. Several plush rabbits soon joined the fox as Judy slowly fell asleep.

* * *

 **[A/N] I am so very sorry for the extremely long break since the last chapter. My new job tends to leave me emotionally and creatively drained, so its been hard to find the time and mood to continue writing anything cute, flirty, and romantic.**

 **Reading all of the wonderful stories out there right now has encouraged me to try and continue this story. I have tons of action, tears, and fluff planned, that I still want to share, so I will try and keep the chapters flowing again.**

 **The entire story was originally drafted from Judy's point of view but several reviews have pointed out that Nick's character seems a little flat. Thus in this chapter I decided to try to tell it from Nick's perspective, and I hope it turned out alright. And if it goes over well I will try and do more of these, or maybe something like a split screen, going back and forth between our two favorite cops.**

 **I want to thank VariableMammal for letting me use the three school kids from their amazing story Partners. Go check them out if you havent done so already.**

 **Thank's for reading and I hope to hear what everything thinks of this new chapter.**

 **~OneWolfe**


	9. Chapter 9 - A Day On The Phone

Chapter 9 - A Day On The Phone

The bright and brutal beam of light breaking through the curtains slowly crept across the bed. It started by simply leaping across the room to strike the far wall, but within a few moments, it grew brighter and crossed the room to climb up the foot of the bed. It charged viciously across the bed, like a wolf on the hunt, completely unimpeded by the sheets or the pillows strewn across the plush surface. Then it slunk up the larger, red-furred lumps that were desperately trying to hide from the stalking light. But the light would not be denied, and thusly, it hounded its way across a slightly rounded plateau, over a pair of red cliffs, and up a steep, furry mountain to find its sleeping prey.

A large pillow was brought forth to cover the mountain, but it would not stop the light. The light grew larger with each passing moment until it filled the room, and no meager pillow could prevent the inevitable.

Nick opened his eyes to stare at the burning light covering his bed. He pounded the pillow against his face to block out some of the pain, but it was useless. He futilely tried rolling over, and burrowing under the thin covers, and even turning around on the bed until he was facing the wrong way, but nothing could make the morning pain go away and he was already awake.

Giving up trying to fight it anymore, he sat up in the bed, stretched, and decided that now was when his morning would start. Because he had always planned to get up at exactly this moment, and he would bite anyone who disagreed. "Ah, who am I kidding," he thought crawling back under the covers for a few more minutes, while thoughts of a certain rabbit once again crept back into his brain.

"Maybe, I will feel a little better after a cup of coffee and a nice breakfast," he wasn't sure if he spoke the thought aloud or not. "Judy and I can head over to Jenny's again. That would be really nice," thoughts of her once again sitting in his lap, eating that giant salad, began to wake other parts of the fox's sleeping anatomy. Then his slow and sleepy fox mind began to stir as he remembered some of yesterday's events, "Darn it! We can't go out for breakfast. She's probably still mad at me." He covered his head with the pillow again, trying to hide from the offensive morning light.

It wasn't long before another internal force interrupted his nap and demanded that he get out of bed. The call of nature had crept up on him slowly while he was hiding under the covers, but now it was a full force gale. If he didn't get up and relieve himself there was going to be an even bigger mess to clean up when he finally did get out of bed.

The sheets were tossed aside with annoyance and the fox raced for the bathroom. While he was in there, he decided to take care of the rest of his morning grooming chores. About thirty minutes later, the fox exited the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. His fur was also quite shiny, and very fluffy.

Back in the bedroom he donned his usual green flower print shirt and blue tie. Then headed out to the kitchen to find some morning sustenance.

Unfortunately, his fridge was empty, and the can of coffee grounds didn't have enough left to brew a pot for a mouse. "I wonder where it all went? It's not like I've been eating at home very much lately, so there should be some left somewhere. Oh, that's right, the bunny drank it all." Closing the fridge door, he said aloud to no one in particular, "Well, there is only one way to remedy this situation," as he promptly grabbed his keys and headed out the door.

Outside his apartment building, the painful sunlight was even brighter, so Nick had to put on his aviators to help relieve some of the stabbing pain in his sensitive eyes. He then headed in the direction of the nearest cup of coffee.

Honestly, the todd could have gone in almost any direction, at any hour, to find a decent cup of coffee, but even he could not tell you why he headed to Big Joe's Caffeine Shack today. It wasn't exactly one of his favorites, or had the best mocas in town, but it was quaint and quiet this time of day. This was due to it being located a fair bit from the normal business districts, so no one really stopped by on their way to work. The place usually drew more of an evening crowd, and a local poetry club had readings there on Thursday nights.

There was a single elk standing at the counter waiting on his order when the fox slid through the large door. Nick casually walked up to the counter as the elk grabbed a pair of steaming hot cups and left with not even so much as glancing at the fox.

"What can I get'cha," the young brown bear behind the counter asked. She was short for a bear, with long golden locks flowing down the side of her head that covered one eye. Her gruff voice was nothing like the one he wanted to hear this morning, like the small mammal who continued to fill his thoughts, awake or asleep.

Nick climbed onto an empty stool at the bar and ordered a large cup of the house blend, extra sweet, extra cream, and a blueberry muffin. He sat there quietly browsing the daily news on his phone and ate his muffin. Several more customers came and went, but they and the serving bear just ignored him.

One of the local channels had a video on their site covering the school bomb threat yesterday. Unfortunately, there was no mention of the two tiny heroes that defused the bomb. All the credit was given to the T.U.S.K. team sargent, who would be leading the investigation into who set the bombs, and wanted to threaten the school. The fox nearly coughed up his coffee when he saw the boar officer being interviewed. "I guess Buffalo Butt didn't want to show that we were involved since we're both suspended," Nick said into his cup.

"Did you need something," the bear was looking at him with a blank expression that clearly said she really didn't want him to order anything else.

"Oh, um, no. I think I'll just be going now," he said and climbed off the tall stool and waved his farewells. "Thanks for the coffee, and have a great day," he did his best to hide the sarcasm since he felt much better after the light breakfast. Still sipping the now lukewarm coffee he walked out the door.

He wandered around the streets for another hour before he found himself standing at one end of a wide alley overflowing with colorful stalls, each one covered with thousands of bright vegetables and produce. The air was filled with the sounds of every mammal imaginable, and many he really had no names for. This was the Central Zootopian Flea Market, where you could find everything you could ever want, and much more that you never knew you needed. In this brightly lit alley the haggling was fierce and gossip, about every mammal in the city, was nearly free. Mammals just loved to shop, and they especially loved to talk while they shopped.

The fox had pulled hundreds of scams here in the past, but he hadn't been here in years. His pawpsicle scam would have had too much competition in a place like this. Besides he wasn't here for scamming today, or talking, for once he was actually here to shop.

Winding his way through the stalls and between the other large mammals his mind wandered along with his feet. His partner was still mad at him, but he really could not understand why. He had done his best to protect her and those children. It was really Bogo's fault for suspending them, and the fox was not to blame.

Stopping at one food cart that smelled of rich spices, Nick looked over their supply of proteins for predators like himself. Instead of the usual small crickets that most of the other vendors had, this golden leopard had some large grasshoppers wrapped up in what looked like wheatgrass and balls of rice. "These look fascinating, what do you call them," he asked wiping a small drop of drool from his lips before it slipped away.

In a very strange accent the puma replied, "They are called sushi. Very popular where I come from."

"I think I've heard of this sew-she before. I'm told it's very good."

"Yes very good. Very good. You buy some yes?"

"Sure I'll take four," said the fox and handed over the money to the vendor.

Looking at his carefully packaged sushi he wondered if he could get his partner to try some after she had a chance to calm down. Maybe I should get her something while I am here, he thought. After looking around several more stalls he found exactly what he was looking for. It was a stall with a big sign on top that read, "Fresh Farm Produce," and he quickly walked over to see what they had to sell.

Upon approaching the stall he spotted exactly what he thought his fluffy rabbit partner would like most. Sitting right on the very edge of the stall was a large wooden crate filled with plump, fat, orange carrots. While trying to decide how best to deliver an armful of the sweet roots to his favorite Carrot, the fox's eyes glanced down to the side of the crate where he saw the words, "Hopps Family Farms," over a grassy field with happy rabbits dancing about the letters.

"Hopps Farms!" the fox exclaimed nearly jumping with joy. Turning to the plump older rabbit manning the stall he asked, "Do you know the Hopps's?"

The rabbit vendor was a round rabbit of average height, with rich cream colored fur and had the smell of fresh dirt on his cloths. He wore a pair of dark blue overalls covering a brown plaid shirt that had obviously seen many years in the fields. The farmer, who had been eyeing the fox warily since before he even approached his vegetable stand, looked up with a puzzled expression on his muzzle. "What's that?"

Pointing to the box of carrots, Nick asked again, "This says Hopps Family Farms, do you know them."

Scratching his chin the rabbit thought for a second, "No, can't rightly say that I do. All my produce comes from the tri-burrows, so they might'n 'ave a farm out there somewheres, but I've never been there meself." Nick noticed that a few other types of produce were also sitting in boxes with the Hopps Farm label on the side.

"Oh, I see," the sad expression on the todd's face was plain as day. "Would you happen to have any blueberries?"

"Sure'n I might, le'me look."

"Specifically, Hopps blueberries."

"A'right, don't git ur tail in a twist. Give me a second," the rabbit said before stepping around a corner and began rummaging through several crates.

He returned shortly with a large box overflowing with blueberries. "A'right, found 'em. Now 'ow many you be want'n?"

"How about a whole basket," Nick held up his hands about chest high to imitate about the size of a picnic basket.

The rabbit pulled out a small styrofoam box and filled it with berries before handing it to the fox in front of his stall.

"Um, do you have anything bigger?" the fox asked looking at the tiny paw sized box the vendor was holding in his direction.

"Are you serious?"

"Yup, one hundred percent. These are the best blueberries in town my friend," he nodded vigorously to emphasize his point.

Grabbing a slightly larger box the rabbit carefully poured the berries into it and grabbed another pawfull from the crate to top it off. "Whateva' ya say buddy," he said handing over the new box, "that'll be 4.50."

Nick pulled out his wallet and began to hand over the requested bills, but had a second thought, "Better make it two." Then he pulled a ten from his wallet and handed it to the rotund rabbit, who quickly filled a second box. "Thank you so much, and keep the change."

As the fox sauntered back into the crowd, a taller muscular rabbit with the same cream fur and similar dress stepped out from behind some nearby vegetable crates. The new rabbit was carrying a large red taser in one paw and a bottle of Fox Away in the other. Stepping up to the older lagomorph he asked "What was that all about Pah?"

"I don't know, t'was the strangest thing." The shorter rabbit gestured to the crate of blueberries, "that strange fox just bought two 'ole bunches of blueberries."

The younger rabbit turned his head to the side in puzzlement, "Ok?"

"He specifically asked fer' uncle Stu's berries too."

"Oh."

"He said they were the best in town."

"Well I could'na agree more," the younger one said popping a few of the berries into his mouth.

"Stop eat'in the produce son," he swatted the boy's paw when it reached for another berry, and then pointed at the Fox Away gear he was carrying. "And put those things away before someone gets hurt."

A various mix of other food items appeared in the foxes arms before he headed back home. It was still early when he reached the apartment so he had more than enough time to put away his groceries, and then maybe him and Finnick could go find some fun.

Unfortunately the little desert fox wasn't answering. At this early hour he was either still asleep, or working on a scam with his new partner. So Nick took another look at his contacts. Scrolling past Judy's number his eyes fell on one that he hadn't called in many months. Shaking his head he set the phone down and returned to putting away his groceries.

He set the large blue can of coffee grounds next to his brew pot, pancake batter went in the cabinet along with a bag of egg noodles. The blueberries, potatoes and other greens went into the fridge, along with the milk and butter. However when his paws reached for the plump carrots he bought from that strange farmer, they grabbed the cell phone instead and dialed.

Raising the speakers up to his pointy ears he listed to the ring tone nervously waiting for an answer. "What if she doesn't answer", he thought moments before there was a subtle click, and the tentative, "Hello," almost brought a tear to his eye.

"Hi mom."

"Oh, my goodness. Nicky! It's been over a year, are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine," the todd said with a sad expression in his voice while he pulled the thick orange roots out of the tall brown paper bag.

"You don't sound fine sweety, what going on?"

He put a big smile on his muzzle, "No, I'm really good right now."

The vixen didn't sound convinced, "I know better, you only ever call me anymore unless you're in trouble."

"Actually I did want to ask you something," his frown returned as he put the bunch of carrots on the top shelf of the fridge.

"A mother always knows," his mother chastised with a chuckle. "So tell me, son, what are you into now?"

"No, no, it's nothing like that mom," he said with a quiet sigh, and popped a few berries between his sharp teeth.

"Ok, if your not in trouble, why do you sound so sad."

"Um, this is seriously going to sound a little strange."

"You always were a strange little kit, Nicky. And I blame myself for that, trying to push all that love and equality on you at such a young age. Of course I don't blame you for what happened when you found out the world was a lot colder than my hippy flowers and music."

"Please don't be like that mom, I just need a recipe for carrot stew," his voice caught in his throat with a little hiccup, that almost sounded like a squeak.

The voice on the other end paused for a minute and Nick thought he could hear what sounded like a sneeze or coughing, but it quickly returned with more determination. "What's her name?" the vixen finally asked.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, who is the girl Nicky. Tell me what her name is?"

"This isn't about a girl at all, I just want to eat something healthy for once, mom," he said, trying to cover up his embarrassment.

"Don't lie to me Nicky."

"No, I'm not lying!"

"Dammit young mammal, I know you too well. You never cook anything, unless it's for a date. Plus I can hear you thinking about her right now. So once again, tell me the nice mammal's name, or so help me I'm hanging up right now!" the determination in his mom's voice filled the small one bedroom apartment and Nick began to cower at the memories that came with it.

"Yes, yes. Sorry, mom," he said, and folded the paper bag three times and placed it into a kitchen drawer that still held others of its kind. "Fine, fine, her name is Judy."

"Oh, that's pretty. Is she some kind of vegetarian or something, or why else would you be trying to make carrot stew?"

"Yes, she is a vegetarian," he unconsciously sighed again.

"Oh, that's interesting. So when did you two start dating?"

"No, mom, were not dating!" he waved his paws in front of the open fridge like she could somehow see him.

"Nick," she drew out his name as if to say, "You're already on thin ice."

"We're just really good friends, and we work together."

"Friends with benefits maybe?" it had been a long time since he had heard his mom's voice deliver such sweet sultry tones.

"Oh god no!" the sudden choking fit had him down on all fours, and he almost dropped the phone.

"So why then are you going out of your way to cook for this female, hmmm?" he thought he heard a giggle on the other end of the call.

"Because I messed up yesterday mom, I messed up real bad," he said, still sitting on his knees on the kitchen floor, with his tail trying to work its way between his legs shamefully. "I hurt her feelings, and now she is very mad at me, and I want to do something nice and thoughtful to make it up to her since we still have to work together."

"Well, it sounds like you really care about this mammal, so why don't you do something sweet and simple. Get her a bouquet of her favorite flowers instead."

"No mom, I really don't think flowers would be a good idea right now," he tried to explain as he got back up onto his hind paws, but his sore knees would not hold him so he stumbled and had to swiftly catch the counter. "We are not 'that kind' of friends."

"Aw, that's a shame. I think my little kit could use a good passionate female to hold onto right now," she made cute little smacking, smooching and cooing noises, that made Nick think she was imitating holding someone close on her couch. "So Nicky, you said you work with this girl. What kind of jobs are you pulling these days, and what happened to that little buddy of yours, the desert fox."

"Yes, we work together, and not jobs, mom, 'A Job.' It's a real job. I work at the ZPD," he tried to explain but she cut him off.

"Don't pull my tail," the vixen stated harshly. "You can't be seriously working with the police. What kind of scam are you pulling?"

"No, I'm serious," he puffed out his chest in pride. "I am a real cop now Mom. And if this is some kind of scam, it's the best one yet, because I've obviously fooled myself."

"Oh, my goodness!" she exclaimed in shock and promptly slid off the couch.

"Mom?" the todd started shaking the phone as he yelled into it again. "Are you ok? Mom!"

Nick barely heard her reply, "It's you."

"What happened, what was that thud?" he asked relieved that his mom was still speaking and didn't sound hurt.

"You're that fox I have been hearing about on the news. That fox cop. I had no idea it was you," her voice was completely out of breath, and after the shock of what her son had just told her she felt like she had just run a marathon.

"Yes, I'm that fox, you've heard about."

"I've always shut off the news whenever they started talking about that idiot. I just thought he was up to no good, and had somehow pulled the wool over their eyes. I had no idea, that my son was that idiot!"

"So now you know why I haven't called, and besides were not really allowed calls from the academy." This wasn't exactly true, but he had opted to spend all his phone credits calling Judy instead of his mom, or Finnick.

"How did you manage to get on the good side of all those gruff looking cops?" his mom asked, sounding much more enthusiastic about his new job, and sudden turning away from the dark side of Zootopia.

"Well I do have Judy to thank for that, which is why she means so much to me as a friend."

"Oh, I had no idea," the vixen stood up and headed into her own kitchen. "That's right, you still need that recipe! let me see if I can find a good one for my son's special friend."

"Moo'oom," the todd cried.

"Ok, sorry hun. I will try to be more careful talking about those feelings you pretend not to have," she rolled her eyes and let her son continue to play dumb while she browsed through her recipe drawer. "Ah, I think I found just the one," she exclaimed holding up an old recipe card, "Now are you ready to write all this down?"

"Why don't you send me a picture of it instead?"

"Really, that will work?"

"Of course mom. I do it all the time."

"What wonderful devices these things are," the vixen said delightfully kissing the phone. "It's written on both sides of the card so you will have to read carefully ok." She then snapped a couple of pictures and sent the attachments to her son.

"Thanks Mom. These look great," Nick commented as he zoomed into each picture and noted how clearly he could read his mom's handwriting.

"My pleasure dear. I always enjoy talking to my son. And please tell me how the date goes."

"It's not a date Mom."

"Whatever you say sweetie, just remember to have fun ok."

"I will Mom, and thanks again," he said and hung up.

Carefully looking over the image of the recipe on his phone he began to mumble off each ingredient as he read them, "Carrots, potatoes, celery, cucumbers, vegetable broth, flour, and spices. Most of this stuff I don't have, so it looks like it's back to the store for this fox" With an exuberant flair he picked up his keys, placed his phone into his pocket, and followed his happy feet out the door.

* * *

Damp blades of freshly cut grass sat waiting in the darkness while a small grey bird hopped about looking for its breakfast. In the distance the morning sun crept slowly over the snowy peaks of Tundra Town bringing light to the dark slopes. Warm yellow light showered down from the sky bathing the mountain until the whole thing glowed a brilliant white. Suddenly the hungry grass was crushed under a pair of large paws before they even had a chance to taste the first rays of the warm morning light.

The paws moved on swiftly to crush more grass in their wake. With a steady rhythm those large grey and white paws fiercely pounded each blade they passed into the soft turf. Every tenth step the running paws would skip a beat, taking a short leap into the air, only to come crashing down even harder on the poor unsuspecting grass.

With a loud flutter of wings the early bird frantically took to the air, seeking safer prospects, as the mammal attached to the furiously pounding paws approached. A pair of large fluffy ears flapped up and down on the mammal's back in time with their paws. The mammal ran on, giving no care to the crushed grass under her feet, or the small birds that fled at her approach.

A small white wire hung from under each ear and ran to a small box strapped to her swinging forearm, this caused the wires to swing wildly with each powerful of her strides. Loud popping sounds and rhythms seemed to emanate from each of the wire ends under her ears. Her feet pounded and leapt to the beat of the music as she half jogged, half hopped around the park.

The jogging rabbit seemed to be chasing the fleeting morning shadows through the grass and around the trees, but after a few laps the sun was full in the sky and the shadows had fled for the day. A few more laps around the park and her music suddenly stopped to be replaced by an almost pleasant beeping jingle. Without missing a step she answered the call and a familiar voice spoke through her tiny earbuds.

"Hi bun bun," and older female voice said.

"Hi Mom," Judy replied.

"What's all the noise in the background, and why are you breathing so hard? Are you chasing criminals?"

"No Mom, I'm just jogging in the park."

"Oh, that's nice. Is today your day off? Didn't you just have the weekend off? How many days off do you normally get there in the big city?" Bonnie's endless questions came swiftly one after another.

Judy stopped for a second to answer her mom's questions, "No Mom. I um, I got suspended!" Her head hung low and she tried to cover her face with her long ears.

"Oh no hun, what happened?" the other rabbit said with as much concern as was motherly possible.

With both paws balled into fists Judy replied keeping her small voice just below a scream, "It was all Nick's fault!"

"Nick? Oh you mean your boyfriend?"

"He is NOT my boyfriend! He is my partner at work, and partners share the blame. So his screw up yesterday got both of us suspended."

"Well that's not fair at all, ya know."

"Bogo wants to teach us a lesson about following protocols and all that." the younger bunny said with a huff and took off jogging again, hoping that the extra exercise would get rid of her frustrations.

"I'm sorry dear, what did he do that got you in trouble?"

Judy almost stumbled over a stray child's toy left in the grass, while she thought hard on how best to answer her mother's question. She had to avoid telling Bonnie how truly dangerous her job was, but she also had to explain how dumb Nick's actions were. These troubled thoughts rolled around in her brain and she failed to see what was laying in the grass ahead of her.

Catching herself she decided how best to answer without giving too much away, "That stupid dummy, ran off to handle a perp by himself, and left me to deal with the witnesses."

"Oh, that doesn't sound so bad," Bonnie replied shaking her head.

"It wouldn't have been, but I had to chase after him and cover his back."

"That seems reasonable to me."

"Well, I lost him in a maze of twisting alleys, and we ended up losing the perp all together. And on top of that the witnesses wandered off and we never got their statements." Judy sat down on a nearby bench and put her muzzle into her paws. "Bogo is mad at us, because we left the scene and never called for the backup like we're supposed to."

Her explanation wasn't exactly the truth, but it would satisfy her mom without scaring her too much. Bonnie already had nightmares about Judy being hurt in the big city, and working with such dangerous mammals.

"Oh, sweety. Your job is so dangerous, I just wouldn't know what to do with myself. And your boss sounds like a real hard apple." the older rabbit said and the shaking in her voice gave away the fear she held for her daughter. "I don't know how you do it every day."

"Yeah, it can be hard sometimes. I just keep my chin up and remember that I'm helping to protect all the mammals of this city." Judy leapt off the park bench with determination and continued to jog through the grass.

"That's good to hear bun bun. I am glad to hear that your happy being the big city cop you always wanted to be," the shaking in the older rabbit's voice did not subside. "I know you were always the toughest one in the burrow, but I still worry about you. I worry every single day, and I can't sleep at night when you forget to call me."

"I'm sorry Mom. I just get so busy with work sometimes, or I'm out with friends or something, and I just forget to call."

"And that makes me worry, even more, that you're out in that big city, and lost or hurt."

Judy giggled over the phone, "Aww Mom. You don't have to worry about me so much. I've always got Nick to watch out for me, and Fru-Fru, and the rest of the ZPD whom I can call on anytime."

"I know sweety," after a few moments her voice sounded slightly chipper. "It sounds like you have a good friend looking out for you."

"I really do Mom," the smile on her muzzle lit up the park.

"Remember not to stay mad a him too long, ok?"

"I'll try, Mom."

"It's not healthy to be mad a someone for such a long time."

"I know," she sighed slightly, but kept her pace around the park.

"Do you now? It's been two years and you still haven't called back poor Jenny," her mother chastised.

Judy came to a complete stop in the grass. She looked down and saw that her hind paws were completely soaked with the morning dew. "Please don't do this now Mom," the young bunny pleaded.

"No, this has gone on long enough! Judy, I know you blame her for stealing your boyfriend, but you need to forgive your sister."

"I did forgive her Mom."

"But you never told her that. You slapped her muzzle at their wedding, then left for the academy, and have not spoken to her since," the fury in her mother's voice made the small bunny start to shake, and a tear fell down her cheek. "I still catch her crying sometimes ya know."

"Mom, please stop."

"No, you need to hear this. Think of your nieces and nephews, if you can't make up with your sister you may never get to see any of them," Bonnie's determination was almost frightening.

"But they are his kits too," Judy cried.

"Yes, I know sweetie. And I understand how hard it is for you, but you need to stop being such a tough bun, and call Jenny," the older rabbit cajoled.

"Ok, Mom. I will think about it."

"Today, Judy, or so help me, your father and I are driving to the city and dragging your tail back here to apologize to her."

"Apologize, to her!" every other mammal in the park turned to look a the small rabbit screaming to herself, but she was too angry to notice the heavy stares. "I am not apologizing for what she did."

"Aww, bun bun. You've no idea how much you have hurt her," her mom chastised. "Besides you barely knew him a few months, and that can never compare to losing your sister and bestest friend in your whole life."

"She ripped out my heart!"

"And you had to tear it into pieces and throw it in her face, before walking out. Please call her today and tell her how you feel, before this anger destroys you," Bonnie said calmly. "Just think about it sweetie. I'm going to hang up now."

"By Mom," after hitting the cancel button, Judy could only stand in the middle of the grassy field and let the tears stream down her cheeks.

It felt like it had been an hour of crying in the grass, but she finally stood up in determination, her little paws balled into fists, and she slowly left the park. Only one thing would help calm her mood and prepare her for a conversation with Jenny, and that one thing was shopping. Still in her jogging outfit, she caught the next bus for the mall downtown.

The Zootopia City Mall was a large glass building nestled between the much taller glass and steel buildings on the edge of downtown. It's unique shape reminded Judy of one of those prehistoric watering holes that she had heard so much about at school.

A domed roof on top kept out all but the worst of the weather that nature could throw at it, and still let the mammals inside see the sky. Few mammals were moving in and out of the mall at this time of day, it had recently unlocked its doors, and most of the animals were on their way to work.

Today Judy noticed that almost all of the mammals that worked at this mall were medium or small prey animals, and every single one that walked through the those gigantic automated doors out front was female. Most were like her, either in their late teens or early twenties. She was relieved to see that not everyone was of the prey category. There was the nice oriental tigress from the hoof and claw salon where she liked to get her nails done, and an older otter, who was probably in her early thirties. She thought she had seen the otter before working a shellfish stand at the back of the food court.

Realizing that quite a few of the stores had yet to open their doors, the rabbit turned her music back on and strolled a few laps around the inside of the mall until the shop she was looking for opened.

Petite's was a clothing store for small mammals, that did not exactly discriminate, however most of their merchandise was fit to the typical lagomorph body types. The neon sign over the door even showed the outline of a rabbit next to the name. They did carry the occasional dresses and outfits for mustelids, felines, and large rodents as well, but those racks tended to be centered around a single corner in the back.

Unlike rabbit boutiques in Bunny Burrow, that carried a lot of blue jeans, plaid shirts and straw hats, this store kept up with some of the latest fashions for young Zootopian ladies. The summer fashions were in and Judy was looking forward to diving through the racks looking for something bright and cheerful. Light blues and greens were in this season, and she might have a hard time finding something that set off her eyes.

When she walked into the store there was an attractive young kit fox working the counter. She was the only mammal working in the store this early in the morning. Judy quickly walked past her to a rack of summer dresses, "Why did I just think she was attractive?" she thought, putting a palm to her forehead.

After Judy spent thirty minutes picking out various dresses, holding them up to a nearby mirror and promptly putting them back, the kit fox stopped by to see how she was doing.

"Is there anything I can help you with today ma'am," the tiny fox said.

"Oh, hey. Um yeah," the rabbit tried not to stutter, "I can't seem to find anything I like and actually fits."

The fox stood back to look a Judy's figure. She leaned to one side then the other, checking out the shape of the rabbit's hips, "I see what you mean. You don't have the typical rabbit figure huh?"

"Tell me about it."

"Hmmm," the attendant stepped around Judy and began flipping through the dresses on the rack. "No, no, maybe," she mumbled. She then stepped over to another rack and immediately pulled out a short, coral dress with a subtle lace trim and handed it to the curious rabbit. "Try this one, I think it might go well with your complexion."

"But it's so," Judy gestured with her paws held about hip height and the spread them apart.

"Oh right, I've got just the thing," the small colorful fox dashed around a few racks before coming back with a pretty black belt. "Give this a try."

"Well that's a great idea."

"Why don't you try them on," the young fox said gesturing to the changing rooms at the back of the store.

Minutes later, Judy came out wearing the pretty, short dress, with the belt tight around her waist and the skirt draped tastefully over her hips. Walking up to the attendant, she asked, "So what do you think?"

"Wow!" the fox lifted her paws to cover her muzzle, "That combination is really amazing on you, especially with the way you're blushing right now."

Ears immediately flopped down to cover the violet bunny eyes, and burning cheeks, "I'm serious, that look is good for you. Here take a look for yourself."

Looking into the mirror while the fox pointed out how well her natural colors matched and how the dress showed off the best parts of her figure, Judy could only stare blankly at the brown and white mammal beside her. The rabbit's mind wandered to thoughts of a certain other fox she knew and how he would look standing next to her in this dress. It sent shivers up her spine, and she decided in that moment that she had to have this outfit. The blush returned full force, and she didn't even care.

"See, what did I say, that look is super cute on you. I'm sure all the other bunnies will just die when they see you in it."

Judy coughed and started to make a snide comment, but suddenly realized where she was, and that the cute mammal next to her was only doing her job. She just could not get the image of Nick out of her mind every time she looked at the short and colorful desert fox. Along with the images were a flood of feelings, warmth, safety, and happiness. It would have been rude to chastise the attendant who was helping her out so much.

"Would you like to try out any other outfits today?"

"Sure, maybe something a bit more formal?"

"Formal huh? With your eyes and fur I suggest a rich blue."

"Yes, I do love to wear the blue," Judy snickered knowing that the fox would not catch the reference.

The attendant casually walked to the front of the store and picked up something long, dark blue, and pencil thin. Turning the dress around it almost glittered in the soft light of the store.

"Oh, my! Are you sure."

"Of course ma'am. Just try it on, I'm sure you won't regret it."

"Ok, I'll give it a try," the rabbit said with a stutter, not sure she could ever wear something so fancy. Grabbing the dress from the other mammal's hands, and looking into her dark eyes, she asked, "Can I ask you something?"

"Um, sure I guess," the fox said hesitantly but the bright smile never left her muzzle.

"I'm just curious what a sweet fox like yourself is doing in a place like this, working for these mean ole rabbits?"

The desert fox chuckled warmly, sat down on the nearby bench, shook her head, and scratched an ear. She lifted her head and looked up and Judy, "I've really been waiting for someone to ask me that, but everyone is just too polite to voice their suspicions. A fox, working for rabbits. Don't you find that strange?"

"Not really, no," Judy said smiling back at the young mammal.

"What, why?" puzzlement crossed the foxes muzzle.

Judy giggled and gave the fox a gentle shove, "My best friend is a fox."

"Seriously?"

"Yup, we've been friends since I came to the city."

The fox's eyes brightened, "That's really cool ya know," she stood and looked back at Judy with a streak of determination. "It was my girlfriend."

"Huh?" Judy asked confused.

"My girlfriend suggested I take this job."

"Your girlfriend, She knows the owner?"

"She thought it would help me relate better to her family"

"Her family?" Something clicked in the back of Judy's mind, but she wouldn't come to realize what it meant for several days.

"Yeah they are related or something," the tiny fox nodded.

The rabbit's large ears stood up straight as she remember that she promised to call her sister, so she decided to take only the one dress and come back for the second one another day.

Taking her leave Judy said, "This outfit is great and you have been such a wonderful help, I really hope to see you the next time I am looking for some new clothes."

"It's been my pleasure ma'am," the fox said waving as Judy walked through the large open door in the front of the store.

Walking out of the store Judy dialed her sister's number. Taking a deep breath she prepared herself for the conflict ahead. She sat on one of the smaller benches near a dried up fountain a few shops down from Petite's and listened to the sound of the ring back tone. After three rings she suddenly hung up, grabbed her new dress and started to walk away.

After three steps she grabbed the phone firmly in her paws, "No, I need to do this. Be brave." She looked up at the domed ceiling and the wispy clouds that flew by overhead. Sitting down she dialed again, and the answer was almost immediate.

"Hello," came the cautious voice on the other end of the line.

Judy nearly choked and hung up again. Hundreds of emotions flooded through her body and her vision blurred bringing tears to her eyes, love, hurt, anger, fear, and jealousy. She was drowning again, and couldn't breath. Her paws clawed in the air, desperately trying to reach the surface, but it was no use, she was going to pass out.

Suddenly a pair of green eyes grabbed her mind, pulling her free of the turbulent emotions, and held her close. One emotion rose to the top and slowly smothered the others leaving her mind clear. Held firmly by those green eyes she felt safe and strong, in a place where she could be the mammal she always wanted to be.

The voice on the phone came again, "Hello? Who is this?"

"Jenny," the rabbit exclaimed with tentative determination planted on her muzzle.

"Sweet cheese and moldy crackers, Judy!" joy and sorrow filled the voice of the other rabbit. "Oh, my, god I can't believe it's really you."

The violet eyed bunny sighed before replying, "Yeah, Jen-Jen, it's me."

"My god Judy, I have missed you so much, you don't even know," Jennifer started to cry. After a few moments of tears, a slightly deeper voice came over the phone and asked, "What's wrong dear?"

"It's Judy, and I'm just so happy to hear my dear sister's sweet voice again."

"Oh, good. Tell her I said hi," the disinterested male voice said before drifting off wandering into another room.

Judy's eyes darkened along with her tone, "Was that him?"

"Yeah, that was Alex. He has turned out to be a great rabbit, and a wonderful friend," Jenny said cheerfully. "But you know he could never replace you."

"Then why did you," anger and jealousy threatened to overwhelm Judy's senses again before the hint of green returned, and she calmly said, "I forgive you Jenny."

"I forgive you too sweetie," Jenny chuckled, "It is just so good to heard that from your own voice. Sure mom and the others can say that you forgave me all day long, but it just hurts to know it's not you standing there saying those words."

"I know, and I'm sorry. It's just things got so crazy at the academy and," Judy started to explain, but her sister cut her off.

"Don't! Just don't try to explain ok," her sister said. "I know how much you always wanted to be the big shot police bunny, in the big city, and once your opportunity came you had to grab it by the tail. But you were my bestest friend too."

"You were my friend too. I know we did everything together, shared everything, but Alex was the one thing I didn't want to share. He even tried to explain it to me once, but I just pushed him away."

"Yeah, because you were so angry at me that you didn't want to listen. And thanks for slapping my muzzle at our wedding by the way. That little fiasco only caused the biggest rumor mill in the try-burrows in the last 20 years."

"Oh, um, sorry about that," Judy's chin almost touched her chest in shame.

"It's ok sis, like I said, I do forgive you. I just wish we could be together again, like we were before, a big warm happy family."

"Im sorry Jenny, but I can't live like that," tears started to well up in Judy's eyes, and she quickly wiped them away before they could race down her cheeks.

"Yeah, I get it. You just have to be your own mammal, don't you?" Jenny's voice was disheartened, "You couldn't be the sweet little girl that mom and dad wanted, and you couldn't be the the friend that I needed either. Your just a dissa.."

"Jenny!" Judy exclaimed feeling more embarrassed at her sister's words.

"Fine. I thought I could try and convince you to come back to us, but you seem more stubborn now than you ever were. And I still don't understand why I always liked that part of you," the other rabbit said with a warm giggle.

"I never knew why you liked me so much either, sis, and I thank you for that. Everyone else in the burrow just thought I was weird."

"Yeah, no idea why that would be, hmm," the sarcasm in Jenny's voice was thick as week old carrot pie.

"What do you mean?"

"You should know. It's cuz you weren't just our average tomboy, you had to go out of your way to 'Save The World,'" Judy could hear the air quotes her sister made across all 211 miles.

Judy's warm giggle leapt across the phone and gave her sister pleasant goosebumps, "Yeah, you're right there. Together we did 'Save the Day' on more than one occasion."

"It was all you Jude's"

"But you were …"

"Just standing by cheering you on, cuz your tough police costume always made me feel so safe."

"Really, I made you feel safe?" a tear streaked down Judy's face, and she let it fall to the tiled floor. At the word safe she could barely picture the fuzzy image of a dark blue uniform covering a bright orange mammal. The orange mammal was standing in the distance, and she knew that if she ran to him now that she would feel safer than she ever could anywhere else in the city.

She held onto the image as long as she could while her sister prattled on about their childhood adventures. But slowly the image faded until it was nothing but a blue and orange speck on the horizon.

"So tell me about this rumor I've been hearing about you sissy," Jenny's voice distracting her pleasant daydream.

"What rumor?" Judy asked nervously.

"The rumor that's been all over the burrow for the least a month now. The one about your new boyfriend."

Suddenly the image of the comfortable orange mammal, in the dark blue uniform, snapped back into her mind as clear as day.

"Nick is not my boyfriend!"

"Aww, but the way you're denying it makes it sounds like the rumors are true," her sister said slyly.

"No, no, we're just friends. And besides he's not even attracted to me," the gray rabbit said sadly.

"What!" the other rabbit cried with shock.

"Yeah, I've actually tried a few things to get his attention, but he just completely ignores me."

"He ignores you, how?"

"Well, he'll get this blank stare and won't say anything for long periods. Sometimes I have to go give him a good slap or yank on his tie. I swear it's like his brain falls asleep."

"Aww, honey," Jenny sighed, "Maybe you should try a little harder."

"There is really nothing going on between us, we're just friends, and I'm not even sure we're that anymore," Judy's ears drooped down her back and a frown slowly crossed her muzzle.

"What do you mean, 'anymore?'"

"I mean, I'm still mad at him for running into that dangerous building yesterday," Judy huffed in exasperation.

"He did what?"

"Were both officers in the ZPD, and while I was questioning one of the witnesses, he takes off into the building without any warning whatsoever to try and disarm this bomb by himself."

"Oh my god, Judy. Don't tell Mom, or she is going to freak out."

"I already gave her the 'Safe' version of this story."

"Ok, that's good. It's already bad enough everytime she see you on the news. She stays up all night pacing the halls and fretting about you, and keeping the rest of us up."

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok hun. Let us deal with mother, you just worry about keeping those streets clean."

"Alright, it's a deal," Judy jumped up from the bench with her paws balled into fists.

"So why don't you finish telling me about why your not friends with your not-boyfriend"

"Because his brash and careless actions got both of us suspended for the rest of the week!"

"Oh, no," Jenny exclaimed and a male rabbit voice could be heard in the background. "Well it looks like you have some things to work out with your friend, so you might want to talk to him about it sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, Mom said the same thing too."

"Well she is right ya know," she said, and the male voice coming from somewhere behind Jenny sounded urgent. "Ok, I've got to run, so take care. And make sure to call me again soon, especially if you ever decide that you might have feelings for this not-boyfriend of yours. Ok, love ya, bye."

"Love you too, bye," Judy slowly hit the cancel button and looked down at her toes feeling emotionally drained. She really should have called her sister back sooner.

* * *

A burnished light shone on the back wall of the open kitchen, shedding its warm light around the fake marble counters and the stovetop. The redish orange fox stood in the soft orange glow, swiftly chopping long orange vegetables while another, angrier orange glow came from the spirals on top of the stove. To offset the overdose of orange in the room, the fox was wearing a green flowery apron over a blue Pawaiian button up shirt. The setting sun did not care much for these contrasts to it's carefully orchestrated light show, and began to drown out the blues and greens where ever it could find them.

On the stove a large pan sat heating over the burner. Inside was a thin layer of oil that was already so hot that small wisps of smoke rose from the surface. Suddenly a pawfull of flat square white vegetables fell into the pan. As soon as the veggies hit the hot oil they immediately began to sizzle and pop, splashing the oil around the pan. Once the splashing settled down, two more pawfulls of onions hit the pan, sputtering and popping and a dark paw grabbed the handle to vigorously shake the pan, thoroughly mixing the oil and onions together.

With the chopped onions cooking, Nick turned to several potatoes he had peeled earlier, and began cutting them into neat little cubes, roughly 1 centimeter on each side. As he was starting on the second potato the cell phone rang. "Oh, darn it," he cried rushing to wash his paws in the sink before answering the phone.

Judy was sitting on her tiny bed bathed in the warm orange sunset. She was holding her newest plush doll in her lap, a tiny orange fox with a smug smile on its muzzle and a pair of derpy looking eyes. Her large feet swung back and forth in the air while she casually dialed a familiar number on her phone. Fiercely she squeezed the fox doll letting go of some her anger while the phone rang. With each passing ring she squeezed the doll tighter and tighter.

After three rings she had to let out a deep breath, and let go of the doll now squeezed flat under her paws. The doll slowly slide sideways and fell onto its side in her lap. And after the fifth ring she threw it across the room to hit the far wall where the warm light of the setting sun had shone only moments before.

His paws still wet Nick stumbled with his phone while trying to lift it to his ear. "Hello," he said

curiously.

"Nick," the rabbit accidentally cried, her voice too loud for the tiny room. With the source of the day's frustrations finally on the other end of the line she needed something to squeeze and strangle, so she promptly ran across the room to pick up the orange fox doll again.

"Hi, Judy. How are you doing today?"

"I'm good Nick. How are," Judy began to ask as she once again sat her fluffy tail down on the edge of the bed. However something distracted her original thought and she quickly changed what she was going to say, "What are those sounds in the background? Nick are you cooking?"

"No, no. Just some running water," he lied while pouring a bottle of fresh spring water into the hot pan. He was always very careful when cooking, yet still managed to splash a few drops of hot oil onto a paw and his flower patterned shirt. "Ouch," the fox cried sucking on a finger and trying to juggle the phone and the water bottle at the same time.

"I knew it, you are cooking!"

"Mmmhmmh," Nick just mumbled with a finger stuck deep in his muzzle.

"You know, I don't think I have ever seen you cook before."

"There is always a first time for everything sweetheart," he replied pulling the still sore finger out of his mouth.

"So tell me, Slick, what exactly are you cooking," Judy asked with the most charming, and seductive voice she could make, as she flopped back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Her charms never seemed to work on the sly fox, but it was always fun to try.

Completely unprepared for the cute, sultry bunny voice that came over the line, Nick was stunned for several seconds before he could recover from the sweet assault, "Oh, not much. Just an old recipe I thought I would try out."

"And what kind of recipe caused my slick partner to burn his fingers hmmm?"

"How did you know I burnt a finger?"

"These ears aren't just for show, ya know."

"Well, unfortunately I am strictly forbidden from sharing this ancient fox type recipe with any rabbits," Nick asserted slyly while dumping all of the fresh sliced carrots into the now boiling pot. "However, you my dear, are more than welcome to come see what the fox is cooking."

The rabbit giggled sweetly before a scowl crossed her brow, "Very tempting, very tempting, but I am still mad a you, ya know."

"I am sorry," he paused with his hands on a small jar of wild spices and held his breath.

"For what?" she asked.

"You know what."

"Do I know that?" a gleam of mischief filled her purple eyes. "No I don't know what your sorry for," she finished their little word game drowned with sarcasm.

The silence was deafening, and the stew continued bubbling merrily along, "I know that your sorry for what Nick?" After another long pause she added, "Go on, say it."

Taking a deep breath Nick set down the spice shaker, "I'm sorry for..."

"Yes?" the plush doll's head was now twisted around backwards as Judy's partner continued to infuriate her.

Two green eyes stared deeply into the dark boiling pit that would soon become a delectable carrot stew. Moments before his nose plunged below the churning water he finally spoke, "I, I am sorry I rushed into things yesterday without thinking about how you felt."

A soft tear fell from a violet eye to glide down a gray cheek, "I forgive you Nick."

The fox stood up suddenly, his back straight and ears pointed at the short ceiling, "You do?"

"Of course I do," the rabbit exclaimed into her cell phone. "I can't stay mad at you forever. Just promise me that you will NEVER try to get yourself killed like that again!"

"Ok Carrots."

"Or so help me, you dumb fox, I will shoot you myself," Nick could feel the serious tone in her voice from halfway across the city.

"I will."

"Cross your heart."

"What?"

"I need you to cross your heart and promise to me right now," Judy was glaring into the derpy eyes of the doll in her paws, desperately waiting for his answer.

"Ok, sweetheart. This is for you," the fox drew and 'X' on his chest and held his paw in the air, a perfect replica of the Junior Ranger Scout salute. "I Nicholas Wilde hereby promise to my partner, that I will not take anymore unnecessary, and dangerous risks, without her permission of course," he said solemnly.

The gray rabbit lifted her red fox doll and planted a quiet kiss on it's nose.

After a few quiet moments the seriousness was broken by a sudden exclamation, "Oh, no the stew!"

"The what?"

"Oh, nothing, it's nothing, just give me a second ok," the todd said setting the phone on the counter and grabbed a small bowl filled with a thick flour paste. He slowly stirred the rue into the boiling pot of vegetables and watched it thicken into a pale stew. It would darken as the flour cooked but for now it was still pretty light.

Once the stew was set to simmer on low heat, the fox picked up the phone again, "Still there partner?"

"Yes, I'm still here," she giggled, "What happened?"

"Nothing, just a little cooking emergency, but it's fine now," he said wiping his paws carelessly on his apron.

"So are you going to tell what it is that your making?"

"Nope," the fox smirked, "but I do have a better idea."

"Oh really?"

"Tomorrow is our regular movie night, and..."

"Since when?" the rabbit's ears perked up.

"Well, since you have come over to my apartment every week since I became your partner. And we sit here and watch old movies together."

Cuddling the plush fox close to her chest Judy replied, "It has been nice seeing all those old classics with such a good friend, but I wouldn't call it 'Our Movie Night.'"

"Maybe we should make it a thing."

"You really think so?"

"Yes of course," he said pulling off the apron and nodding vigorously, "and since tomorrow would technically be movie night, you should come over and see what film I have picked out."

"You picked last week, so I get to pick this time."

"Great, then that means I get to bring dinner."

"And this time, don't try to slip me any of that nasty sausage."

"I've already made one promise today sweetheart."

"Fine, I'll try not to push your sly sensibilities too far in one day," she said sarcastically.

Nick chuckled warmly into the microphone, and the rabbit added, "Oh, that reminds me. I have to finish my shopping tomorrow, so I won't be able to make it early."

"What are you shopping for that takes all day."

"It's a secret."

"Oh, the big city bunny is keeping secrets now," the fox chided.

"Well, I might show you someday," luckily he could not see her wink over the phone.

"Alright, someday it is then," he said smirking. "I guess we can finish this conversation tomorrow."

"Sounds good Slick."

"Have a good night Judy."

"Good night Nick," the called ended and Judy lay on her bed staring at the phone holding the plush fox, and wondered how that dumb fox could always turn her mood around. Only a few minutes ago she was so angry at him that she could spit nails, and now should could not wait to see him again, snuggle up on the couch and make fun of old movies together. "Stupid fox," she thought fondly, turning off her bedside light and closing her eyes.

Nick hung up the phone, turned off the stove and began to clean up the vegetable mess scattered about the kitchen counters. It was fully dark in his apartment now, but his sensitive eyes hardly noticed the lack of light, and he continued to clean, with thoughts of warm gray paws wrapped around him.

The stew found its way into the fridge, and the fox was soon found laying on his couch staring up at the ceiling where images of rabbits danced across his vision. Hours later he was asleep still fully dressed.

* * *

 **[AN] That was a really long an unplanned chapter, so it took me longer to get it all put together, and even more time to edit, so I hope you liked it. While working on this one I also went back and cleaned up a few of the earlier chapters. And as a request from my family I also added some more content to chapter one. So if you have not looked at it recently I suggest going back and reading what** **I've** **added.**

 **I also borrowed another character from VarriableMammal. The kit fox in the mall is very loosely related to Terra from Vixen's Mark. If you** **haven't** **had to read their stories, I strongly recommend reading through all of them. VarriableMammal, has such a wonderful version of Zootopia, and all the characters in the Hopps family are really amazing. Varriable's vivid details is actually one of the reasons I started** **writing** **this story.**

 **Thanks for everyone's patience and all the wonderful comments, and thanks to my family for helping me edit this chapter.**

 **OneWolfe-**


	10. Chapter 10 - Petty In Pink

A cloud burst over a small mountain of baked wheat and sugary puffs. Each of the puffs were formed into several magically delicious geometric shapes. The white rain poured down from the heavens, and the calcium enriched and pasteurized, thick, cream flowed across the brightly colored slopes. Within moments the Lucky Chomps were swimming in a deep sea of rich pale lactate.

Once the rain stopped, and the flavor infused puffs floated peacefully in the sun, they were joined by a giant silver coated shovel, with fancy swirls engraved into the handle. The shovel soon rose from the white sea carrying with it many pieces of pure, vitamin enhanced, sugary goodness. A large, yellow paw with black spots carefully lifted the shovel through the air to a dark and dangerous cave filled with sharp, white stalactites.

Clawhouser took another bite of his favorite morning breakfast cereal while seated at the reception desk in the lobby of Precinct #1. It was a large round room with a great domed ceiling, and several huge windows that let in the morning light. The desk where the cheetah sat was more of a large, round kiosk, situated inside a giant circle and star emblem inlayed into the marble floor. The engraving on the floor resembled an old-western style sheriff's badge. A large, gray wolf was standing next to the receptionist, discussing several official looking papers while the cheetah ate.

With each bite, Clawhouser hummed a happy tune, thoroughly enjoying every artificial sugary flavor, while Wolfard droned on about the finer parts of report specifications and the accuracy of witness details. The gruff wolf barely noticed how much milk and cereal sloshed about as the happy cheetah practically danced with the bowl in his paws. He did not even look up from his paperwork until a sudden breeze ruffled the papers and several of them fell to the floor.

"They're here," the spotted feline exclaimed with a quiet squeal. He put down the cereal bowl and grabbed his phone in hopes of capturing a candid shot from the double dose of cuteness that approached.

The front door was was held open by a dark paw, while it's counterpart swished low across the portal. A red fox with dark brown paws, bowed graciously in front of a grey rabbit with bright lavender eyes, guiding her through the entrance. He was oddly holding his breath while he held the door for her. "Officer Hopps," the todd said.

"Officer Wilde," the bunny replied in thanks as she bowed to him in return.

"Oh, that's just too cute," the rotund receptionist squealed, hurting the sensitive ears of the muscular wolf next to him. He took several pictures of the two tiny officers as they waltzed into the police station with their arms entwined and bright smiles that lit up the nearly empty lobby.

"Good morning Clawhouser," they both said in unison, crossing the lobby and through the far door into the aptly named bullpen..

"Morning, you two," the big cat replied barely containing his glee at how happy the couple looked today. He remembered the last time he saw them, only a few days ago, and how they weren't even speaking to each other. His curiosity over what caused such a dramatic change would have to wait, but before the day was out he would know all the juicy gossip.

"Disgusting," a gruff voice said next to him. The canine wrinkled his large nose and tried to cover it with his disheveled paperwork.

"What's that, Wolfard?" Clawhouser asked thumbing through his new acquisition of revealing photos.

"The two of them," the wolf said shaking his head.

"Oh, um, wait," the yellow spotted mammal looked bewildered, "I didn't know you were against that kind of thing. In fact, don't you have the hots for a certain tigress?"

"No, it's not that," he said giving the much larger mammal a friendly shove, "Can't you smell that?"

Clawhouser lifted his nose to sniff the air, "I don't know, did someone bring in some fresh cut flowers?"

"Felines, all that inbreeding has flattened your noses and dulled your senses."

"Gee, thanks. I can't help that I have such a historic pedigree," the round cheetah said puffing out his broad chest.

"Ugh, can we open a window or something?" Wolford complained while wrinkling his nose again. "The rabbit's pheromones are flooding the lobby."

"Is that what that is?"

"Yeah, she is practically screaming, 'Come get me big boy.'" the wolf started to choke and gag, "I don't know how Wilde can stand it since his nose is almost as good as a wolf's. I've seriously got to get some fresh air!"

"Ok, catch you later pal," the cheetah said in parting, as he watched the wolf quickly head through the precinct's main door, that Nick and Judy just entered.

The bullpen was filled with the usual crowd of large police officers- wolves, bears, hippos, rhinos, cheetahs, lions, and an elephant. Many were carousing about in their sturdy chairs and making bets on the day's early morning arm wrestling match. The small fox and rabbit officers sauntered through the oversized crowd and managed to make it to their shared chair before a shadow filled the opposite door and the large hippo at the front of the room yelled, "Ten-Hut!"

A great cape buffalo entered the room to the sound of paws and hoofs slamming on tables.

He clutched a small stack of manila folders tightly in his hoof, with various papers sticking out of the edges. Handing out the assignments with a cold efficiency, he waited until last to address the two smallest officers.

Glaring down from the podium at Nick and Judy, Bogo said in a calm, yet gruff voice, "You two still have some paperwork to finish."

Both tiny officers stood in their chair and saluted crisply, "Yes Sir."

"Sargent Razorback is eagerly awaiting your reports on the school bomb incident, and you're already three days late," he grunted motioning towards the door.

Again the two smaller cops saluted their boss again as they headed for the exit.

Up two flights of stairs and down several winding halls, Nick and Judy found their desks and began working on sorting through and organizing the mountain of reports required when responding to a bomb threat. Judy dug out her notepad and carrot pen as she sat down with each of the witness reports, while Nick waded through sheets and sheets of paper describing the bomb he found and how they had disarmed and disposed of it. All in all, it was hundreds of pages longer than either one of them would have had to file if they had simply followed protocol and waited for the bomb squad.

Only an hour into their paperwork a large, chocolate-brown llama stopped by their desk carrying a flat white box, "Are you two Officers Hopps and Wilde?"

"Yes, that would be us," the fox quickly replied, eager for any escape from the monotonous reports, "what can we do for you?"

"My name is Ray. I'm from the tech department."

"Why, hello Ray," Nick held out his paw to watch the llama awkwardly try to juggle the box in his hoofs as he reached out to shake the fox's paw, "What can my partner and I do for the techies today?"

After getting his hoof and the box sorted out, the camelid replied, "Well I am actually here to apologize. I seems that my mistake the other day sent you guys on a wild mammal chase."

"Oh, really?" Nicks ears perked up and his eyes sparkled, while Judy just put her forehead into her paws and shook her head at the fox's antics. "What kind of mistake are we talking about here, buddy?"

"Well, the other day Clawhouser asked me to trace a number for you guys ASAP, so I just ran a cursory scan, and gave him the first number that came up."

"So let me guess, that was the wrong number?" the fox asked standing up to get a better view of the llama, but he barely came to the mammal's waist.

"Not exactly, no."

"What do you mean, 'Not Exactly?'"

"It wasn't the only number that came back," the taller mammal replied. "So it looks like whoever made that call managed to route it through at least 12 different countries and then used a spoofed cell number."

"And what exactly does that mean?"

"I guess, what I'm trying to say is that there really isn't any way to trace the call's location without getting ahold of the calling device," the llama explained, his head held low.

Flopping back into his chair, the todd exhaled in frustration, "That's hardly any help."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Judy looked up from her paperwork to ask, "So, if you'll excuse me, Ray, why did you come all the way up here to apologize? Wouldn't a call or an email have sufficed?"

"Yes, you're exactly right. But I wanted to apologize in person," the llama lifted the long white box in his hooves and held it out to the two smaller officers, "And I thought you two might like some donuts."

Nick immediately leapt from his chair and accepted the proffered box. He pulled out one of the chocolate glazed treats, shoved it into his muzzle, and handed the rest to his partner.

"Apology accepted!" he mumbled, teeth full of chocolate and dough.

"Thanks Ray," the bunny replied and waved as Ray headed back to the Cyber Crimes Department, also jokingly referred to as 'The Dungeon'.

Pulling a berry filled donut out of the box and nibbling on the edge, Judy commented, "That was a randomly specific piece of information." She turned to her partner, licking powdered sugar off her lips to ask, "Should we add it to the reports?"

"Naw, that should be part of Ray's job."

"I will add it as a footnote so the Sarge can reference the tech's reports."

"Go for it," the fox mumbled, his jaws once again stuffed with something deep fried and smothered in chocolate. A drop of chocolate dribbled down the side of his cheek.

Judy watched fascinated as her partner tore into the donut with his fangs, but her paws began to twitch when she noticed he had smeared a large glob of chocolate on his cheek. She stood up and walked over to his side of the desk, unconsciously picking up a dry paper napkin on the way. Lifting the napkin to wipe away the offending blotch of chocolate, she completely missed his cheek and let the napkin bonk his nose. Instead she pressed her lips to his cheek and happily lapped up the delicious smudge.

Neither the rabbit or the fox noticed the sudden squeal that echoed from across the room, or the slightly quieter click that accompanied it. "Oh, Emm, Goodness! I can't believe it finally happened," Clawhouser cooed, playing with a picture on his phone. From the angle of the photograph it looked like Nick and Judy were sharing a rather intimate kiss.

"I just have to share this with everyone," the large cheetah squealed again and quickly left the room.

"What do you think that was all about?" the fox said, finally looking up.

"I don't know, but will you just hold still? You are such a messy eater," the bunny replied, holding his muzzle still while she wiped up the last bits of chocolate. She was completely unaware that she had used anything other than the napkin in her paw. Hours later, even after the photo had fully saturated the office, she would still deny the incident had ever happened.

The rest of the paperwork flew by in a combination of furry flurry and the tedium of tapping keys, with both Nick and Judy having to repetitively reference the small yellow notepad and seemingly endless recordings on the carrot pen. Lunch was noodle takeout delivered by a bike-riding ferret, who somehow managed to balance two large boxes of noodles while riding at a furious speed. While they ate, Judy double checked her partner's work, scoffing at his description of the explosive device.

"It's wasn't a pipe bomb Nick," the rabbit exclaimed.

"It was round, and black, and shoved behind the plumbing," he explained, "clearly a pipe, bomb. With two words."

"Har, har. I'm sure the Chief will find that hilarious, Slick."

"But, I'm not writing this report for the Chief. It's for Razorback," the todd explained.

"Regardless of who files the report, the Chief is still going to read it."

"Then he can enjoy my highly accurate descriptions." Judy rolled her eyes at his smug comment and returned to her own reports.

They eventually managed to finish all their paperwork with a few hours left in the day and decided to deliver the reports to the T.U.S.K. offices in person. The special forces unit was stationed in a different building a few blocks away so they took their cruiser.

As the pair walked into Sergeant Razorback's office, the desk loaded down with stacks of reports, the large boar was waiting for them with a gruff expression that reminded them of a certain buffalo. "About time you two finished. I've been waiting three days for those reports."

"Yeah, we were a little detained," Nick replied smugly.

"Oh, I heard all about your suspensions," the gruff boar grunted.

"You heard about that?" Judy asked.

"Of course. Word gets around, especially about officers who like to take risks to get the job done," the larger mammal said looking directly at Nick.

The fox stood up straight and puffed out his chest, "Thanks for noticing."

The boar just snorted at the fox's comment, "You two should consider yourselves lucky the bomber was an amateur. Probably even their first time."

"What do you mean?" the fox inquired.

"I mean, that bomb wouldn't have gone off even if I ran over it with snow plow!" the boar snorted again standing up. "That stuff they used was as stable as my grandmother's corn chowder."

"Is that so?"

"Yup. The chemistry was all wrong. We suspect they used some fairly stable medical grade components, which make a nice fire in a microwave, but aren't strong enough to take down a building."

Judy's ears perked up as she asked, "So you're saying what we found was nothing but an oversized firecracker?"

"Sure, you could lose an arm or a leg, or even do some real nice damage to the plumbing, but that's about it."

"Cheese and Crackers!"

"But if you're looking to get yourself killed, we are always interested in taking on new recruits," Razorback said, turning back to face Nick with a dark gleam in his eye. "Especially small mammals like you who can fit into tight places."

With an expression of sheer terror, the rabbit stomped on her partner's foot and stabbed her elbow into his small ribs. "Nick," she hissed. To the T.U.S.K. Sargent she saluted and said, "We have to get going now."

A small elbow still stuck in his side the fox coughed and replied, "Yes, lots of work to catch up on."

Ignoring the rabbit, the boar gave Nick a puzzled look, "Oh, that reminds me. Bogo said that if you two dropped off the reports early that you were to head back out on patrol for the rest of your shift."

"Thank you, Sergeant," the gray rabbit saluted the sergeant as she was dragging her partner out of the boar's office.

"And Officer Wilde, I meant what I said about new recruits. You've showed that you have the guts for our line of work."

Judy pulled on the fox even harder, mouthing the word 'NO' with her lips.

"Just think about it," Razorback exclaimed as the fox and rabbit disappeared around the door.

Back in the cruiser, Judy gave her fox a solid punch in the shoulder and held her fist to his nose.

"Ouch!" the todd hollered, firmly rubbing his sore shoulder. "What did you do that for?"

"You know exactly what for, or have you forgotten our talk last night?" Judy cried, angrily shaking her fist.

"What, um, yeah I remember," he said trying to remember what they had talked about after the movie was over. He did vaguely remember something about a promise but the rest of the evening was lost in a haze of purple fluff.

"Ok, if you remember your promise to me then you won't even consider Sargent Boom Boom's offer."

"Wait, Fluff. Did you just make up a pretty good nickname?"

"No. If you had been paying attention you'd know that is what everyone around the office calls him," the rabbit chuckled. She then swung her fist back towards his nose, "And don't change the subject, Slick."

Nick wasn't paying any mind to the small gray fist in front of his muzzle, but kept his eyes on the scenery outside the car. "Sergeant Boom Boom, such a great name for him," he snickered.

Driving the cruiser towards their standard patrol route the rabbit had one thought on her mind, "He is my fox, and if I have to remind him of that every single day, then that's what I am going to do."

* * *

"And remember to keep it under forty, ok buddy?" the todd said, smacking the cracked and worn leather roof of the old Impala.

Only twenty years old and the car looked like it was on its last legs, as if it had been through a hard life and nearly driven into the ground. Nick almost felt sorry for the old girl.

"I will be more careful, Sir." The young badger announced from the driver seat. He was sitting on a colorful seat cover made out of wooden beads, obviously placed there to cover the huge hole in the cushion. The back seat looked like it had been clawed and chewed on years ago, there were large holes in the cushions and much of the stuffing was missing.

"You be sure and do that, because the next time I see you like this, I am writing a ticket." He probably shouldn't blame the kid for the car's current condition. It was probably the kid's first one and that kind of damage usually comes from years and years of neglect. "Probably bought it off of Cougar's List, out of some mammal's back yard too," Nick thought to himself.

"Thank you, Sir." The teen said grinding the gears badly, trying to get his car out of park before pulling back into traffic, leaving Nick standing on the side of the road in a spray of gravel and dust.

Watching the old Impala slowly disappear down the street, the fox tried to think back to being a teen with his own first car. His mood slowly turned dark and sullen as the memories of his childhood came flooding back. He never really had a car of his own. Of course his buddies were always there to give him a lift, or show him a trick or two, but it wasn't the same as owning his own or having a father to teach him how to drive.

With his mind full of the melancholy thoughts of days gone by, he trudged slowly back to the police car where his partner waited. He took a quick glance in her direction to see a bright and sunny bunny smiling back as she watched him through the bulletproof windshield.

That rabbit's smile could always brighten his day. It filled his world with hope and stuffed his stomach with butterflies, until he felt like a red, plushy throw pillow. "Why did she have to be so darn cute?" he thought reaching for the big, black door handle.

Putting the mask back on to hide his true feelings, he climbed into the passenger seat and smirked back at the bunny. She didn't need to know how this routine traffic stop had dredged up some of his old memories, or that he could never stay sad for long when she was near.

"So I take it you just let him off with a warning, Slick?"

"You know the chief allows us to do that for first time drivers." The todd continued to smirk at her.

"Yes. But you don't have to give them out every time."

"Come on, Fluff. That kid had his license for one day, and really wasn't going that much over the speed limit. Still, he is in the system now, so his next offense is a ticket for sure."

"Oh, ok."

"And if he asks, I will just explain it to old buffalo butt. Besides, what have you been doing on your phone this whole time?"

She ignored his last comment and simply put the cell away.

With the subject of their latest traffic stop long gone, Judy finally pulled the cruiser back on to the street and continued their afternoon patrol.

After they had only gone three blocks the radio crackled to life, "Code two-eight-eight in progress at the Sableton Crescent hotel on Nolton Avenue and I-10. Repeat two-eight-eight at the Sableton Hotel."

Judy turned to the fox beside her, "Remember that one partner?"

"Of course," he replied smugly. "That's domestic violence."

"Right on the dot. We're five blocks from there, so call back the dispatch!" the rabbit exclaimed suddenly flipping the car around with the lights and siren blaring.

Nick grabbed the radio receiver off it's hook and keyed the mic, "Unit 240 responding. Hopps and Wilde en route to the Sableton Crescent, ETA 3 minutes.

"Roger Unit 240, will advise the hotel that you're on the way," the dispatch replied after several moments.

The Sableton Crescent was a large half rounded, business class hotel sitting in the middle of Sahara Square, just off the main freeway. It's grounds were moderately luxurious, with tall palms, and a colorful variety of rare flowers laid in a bed that spelled out the hotel's name. There were two private pools, one had a popular cabana while the other had a smooth sandy bottom. Since the Crescent was not as grand as some of the other luxury resorts closer to the beach

it didn't include a golf course or an amusement park, but it did have two very nice restaurants, and an exclusive private bar on the top floor.

Pulling the cruiser up to the curb near the main entrance, Judy turned off the flashing lights and got out, leaving the car running. Nick joined her and they both walked through the large sliding glass doors together.

A marble fountain splashed in the center of the lush lobby, hidden behind tall ferns and a short date palm. At the counter was a young antelope dressed in the company's fashionable uniform. When the two cops approached she picked up a phone receiver that was attached to the desk by a long curly wire. With in moments a tall, well dressed badger ran through a door off to the side of the counter and up to the small officers.

Folding his paws in front of his chest, the manager spoke calmly and slowly, belying his irritation over the current situation. A bead of sweat rolled down his nose, "I am so glad you got here so quickly." He took the two cops to a quiet corner of the lobby to explain the situation. "We just barely got a call from one of the guests saying there was a loud fight up on the seventh floor. They said they heard a lot of yelling, stomping and breaking furniture."

Judy stepped forward asking, "Can we speak to your in-house security?"

"Certainly. They should be up on the seventh floor now," the badger motioned to the elevators on the far side of the lobby. "I'm sure if you head up there, they can answer all of your questions."

"Thanks. You've been too kind," the rabbit replied, hiding her sarcasm, as they walked towards the elevators.

Exiting onto the seventh floor they found more potted ferns evenly spaced along the long curved wall. The walls were painted a light beige with a dark trim and the carpet had a sharply geometric and wavy pattern that didn't quite align with the curve of the building. Every door on this floor was build for medium height mammals and all of them were numbered in the seven thousands. Several mammals could be heard talking further down the hall.

The rabbit and her partner cautiously walk down the half rounded corridor expecting a savage mammal to jump out at them any moment. Their stances relaxed when they come into sight of a security guard standing outside one of the guest rooms. He was young brown bear with a haircut that made Judy think he had just gotten out of the military.

A nasally voice with a foreign accent, could be heard speaking to the bear from inside the room, "I hope your guys don't rough him up too bad. He may have broken my nose but we still have to work together."

"I can't make any promises Mr. Wedgewoods. If he comes back peacefully then no harm will come to him, but if he gets violent again, we may be required to use force to restrain him."

As they approached, they could see a raccoon dog, dressed for a night out on the town, standing inside the doorway, with a swollen eye and holding a hand towel up to his nose. The small towel was soaked and the red stain spread further as the mangut continued to speak, "He is usually such a nice guy, I really don't know what got into him."

"Evening officers," the large security guard said when the two cops stepped up to the open door. When the bear stepped out of the way Judy could see a small paw holding the wounded guest's, and what looked like a pair of pink ears sticking up behind him.

"Evening," Nick and Judy said in unison.

"What's the situation?" the fox asked.

While Nick was talking to the bear Judy stepped around to the other side of the door and spotted a familiar looking rabbit behind the raccoon dog. She was holding his paw and rubbing his back to help calm him. Her fur was dyed pink and there were swirls of glitter in all the right places. The older rabbit looked surprised when she saw Judy standing there in her uniform. Judy smiled at her and stood a little straighter, her ears stiff as a board.

The bear looked down at Nick replying, "When my partner and I arrived, to respond to the noise disturbance call, the assailant had already fled down the stairs."

"And where is he now?"

"Jake took off after him but he must have given my team the slip somewhere around the second floor."

Hearing that the perp had so far eluded the guards Judy started bouncing on her toes, and the gleam in her eyes said she was eager to give chase. Nick put his dark brown paw on her shoulder, "Easy there, Carrots. Let the guards handle this."

"But," she looked up at her partner with fire in her eyes and smoke rolled out of her ears. She was anxious to run, and it showed.

"I know, but this is their turf," Nick replied, waving his paw at the bear beside him. "They know the building layout better, so let's sit this one out and let the other guys handle it for once."

Judy was impressed, "Who are you and what have you done with the impulsive fox from the other day?"

The fox chuckled through his teeth, "I just thought we should have a nice chat with the witness this time." He turned to look into the guest room when a sudden flicker of surprise crossed his face before it was covered up by the usual conmammal's mask, "Hello Cotton."

"Do I know you?" the pink rabbit asked puzzled.

"It's Nick." he replied, but her expression remained blank. "Nick Wilde!"

"Oh, wow," she still didn't seem convinced. "It's been a while, I really didn't recognize you like that."

"I get that a lot," he chuckled.

"So where is your little buddy now? Is he still driving that ugly, orange van?"

"Yep, Finnick is still Finnick."

"Gee, what a small world, can I invite you guys in?" Cotton was tall for a female rabbit but had the typical rounded bunny figure, and yet she still filled out her dark red evening gown quite nicely. When the rabbit turned to show the two cops into the hotel room she stumbled slightly and gave a bit of a hiccup. Nick also noticed that her eyes were glassy and slightly droopy as if she had just woken from a short nap.

Turning to leave the guard said, "If you have got everything in paw I will just head back to the security booth."

"Yeah, we're good here big guy." the fox replied waving to the bear.

Once everyone was inside the room the pink rabbit turned around and like a good hostess asked, "So what can we do for you today?"

The raccoon dog with the bleeding nose immediately spoke up chastising his date, "Will you let me handle this?"

"Fine. I'll just go over here and make everyone another drink," she flounced smoothly over to the minibar, her gravity defying assets bouncing rhythmically with each step, and poured the remains of a small plastic bottle into a short glass of ice.

Nick faced the ring tailed mammal and asked, "So Mr. ah?"

"Wedgewoods."

"Yes, Mr Wedgewoods, can you tell us exactly what happened?"

"Alright, um."

"And please start from the beginning."

"Sure, ok, let me see," the wounded mammal said lifting his other paw to his brow thoughtfully.

"Charles and I were coming back from the convention when he started to get real upset about something," Mr. Wedgewoods started to explain.

"And Charles is?" the fox asked.

"Charles is my business associate."

From across the room the glitter covered rabbit shouted through a glass of ice, "He was his dealer. And he was mad because I was paying more attention to Nigel here," she waved her now empty drink at the other nicely dressed mammal in the room, "instead of that dung heap of a miniature panda."

"Would you just keep your big mouth shut!" the mangut yelled.

Cotton glared daggers at him, "The two of you paid me to drive you around town, and keep you company at your big dentist convention. I even recall you specifically asked for 'Stimulating Conversation' too. If you want me to stop talking now, that'll cost you extra."

Through the shouting match Nick looked over at his partner, then tilted his head back towards the door. Seeing his signal Judy walked over to the other rabbit and carefully put her paw on her shoulder.

The todd turned to the raccoon dog with all the charm he could muster and said, "Hey buddy why don't we head downstairs and get that nose looked at?"

"What? No it's fine."

"Are you sure? It looks really bad to me, probably permanently broken. You really should get it looked at by a paramedic."

"Ok, I guess. If you really think I should," Mr. Wedgewoods agreed and headed for the door with the cloth still pressed firmly against his nose.

Swiftly setting the glass of ice on top of the minibar the fancy pink rabbit moved to follow, but Judy stepped in her way and with a very friendly tone asked, "Can you tell me what really happened?"

* * *

Back in the elevator Nigel was describing the incident to Nick, "As I was saying, Charles and I had just gotten back to the hotel from the convention. That convention was the whole reason I was even in town."

"Ok, what kind of convention are we talking about?" the fox asked.

"Well I sell dental office equipment. Only the best equipment."

"Really?"

"Not what your thinking. It's not anything so mundane as toothbrushes and floss, but all of the large scale tools, like drills, overhead lamps, and those special sinks."

"Wow, fascinating," Nick said dryly, trying to hide the sarcasm. "So what happened next?"

"So when we got back to the room, Charles starts complaining about how I should pay him for all the drinks and limo driver too." By the way the raccoon dog stumbled over his explanation, Nick can tell he was hiding or holding back something important.

"How did you manage to hire an escort like Cotton Candy?"

"Charles said she came highly recommended from a ram he knows, and she cost him almost a whole month's salary," Nigel exaggerated.

Chucking, Nick agreed, "Yep, I hear she knows all the best spots in town, and can get you into any club with just a smile. Skipping those kinds of lines is well worth it, but what was she doing up in your room?"

"Well aside from driving us to the convention and back she agreed to be my date. She really seemed to enjoy the food and the wine too."

"Interesting."

"Yeah, she took to the wine like a bloody fish. After a few drinks she got really friendly and even tried to climb in my lap."

"So you thought you'd just bring her back to your room and have your way with her?" Nick's disapproval was apparent even in the polished steel surface of the elevator walls. Since you're a foreigner, I should warn you that prostitution is illegal here in Zootopia."

"No, no. It was completely her idea, and besides, Charles was the one interested in her."

"Ok?"

"But she was all over me for some reason, and I'm not really into prey that way."

"And what were you expecting after you got to the room?"

"Well she said she wanted to check out my claws or something like that. Then when she kissed me and shoved me into the room, that's when Charles decked me."

"And was that it?" the fox asked nodding.

"No, that's just when everything started. He was stomping around the room screaming something about stealing what was his, and then he picked up one of the rattan chairs and broke it on my face."

The elevator came to a sudden stop and the door slid open with a pleasant ding. Standing outside the door was the brown bear hotel guard from earlier with a smug expression on his muzzle, "We got him."

* * *

Judy watched as Nick and the raccoon dog exited the guest room, then she turned back to the flamboyantly pink doe next to her and asked in a meager imitation of Chief Bogo's gruff voice, "So tell me what really happened."

Cotton gently placed her paw on Judy's and replied in a thick sultry voice, "Sure honey, whatever you like." She then walked over to the bed and hopped up on it, dangling her legs over the edge.

With her paws on her hips, Judy waited for the other rabbit to continue.

"So, how did you hook up with that fox anyway?" Cotton asked trying to change the subject.

"Just answer the question, ma'am," Judy's eyes narrowed.

The other bunny just giggled and replied with a hint of desire, "You know I really love a tough mammal who takes charge."

Still not taking the bait, Judy continued her questioning, "How did you meet Nigel and Charles?"

Looking directly at the police bunny, the pink rabbit winked a lazy eye at her, "All right, tough bunny, I'll play along, because I like you. It was a typical job, like any other. Drive these two mammals around town and show them a good time, then act like their date for this big dinner party."

Judy glared back at the older rabbit, who was nearly covered from the tips of her tall ears to the ends of her toes in red and silver glitter, "You do know that prostitution is illegal, right?"

Cotton raises her paw as if to slap the rude rabbit, but after a second thought, lowered it with a sigh, "I am NOT a prostitute!"

"So why did I see you working for that pimp? The ram in the purple top hat."

"Stan?" she said with a hint of laughter, "I don't work for that jerk."

"My partner and I saw you handing him a large envelope full of cash, outside a coffee shop last week."

Breaking into laughter, Cotton placed her paw on Judy's arm affectionately, "You've really got the wrong idea here darling."

"How is that?"

"You see, Stan owns my car. And I haven't made a payment in months. So, what you thought you saw, were actually my back payments."

"All right then, let's get back to what happened here today," Judy said stepping out of reach of the affectionate witness.

"Sure," Cotton said swinging her hind paws back and forth against the bed, "after showing those two dentists around the better parts of town we went to their big fancy dinner party."

"Ok, and what happened while you were there?"

"The free food and drinks were excellent, but the speeches were really boring and I started to doze off. But while Charles was giving this horrible speech, Nigel and I got to be pretty friendly." Cotton stood up, and began slowly walking towards Judy.

"Go on."

"I really liked the way he kept his claws and fangs sharp, not at all like the flat toothed red panda, who had been hitting on me all night."

"So Charles was hitting on you?"

The nicely dressed rabbit stuck a sparkly finger down her throat, "Ugh, he was so boring. I am just more interested in a mammal with some teeth." She pointed down at Judy's paws, "And sharp claws, like yours."

Judy pulled her paws away trying to hide her claws. She had gotten them done in the mall shop the other day when she decided to try something different to impress Nick, so she went and had them sharpened. Never once did she think they would attract the wrong kind of attention.

A pink glittery paw slid up a blue sleeved arm to a gray shoulder and squeezed, "I could help you release all of that tension you're holding inside."

The gray uniformed rabbit stepped back sharply swatting the softly dyed paw away, "What tension?"

"All that tension I can see, that you're not hiding so well. Holding it in for so long is going to make you explode, ya know," the pink paw reached out for the gray rabbit in her blue uniform.

Judy stepped back again, "Propositioning a uniformed officer of the law is a fineable offence."

The sultry bunny quickly replied, letting one shoulder of her dress slip down her arm , "Well, you could go ahead and remove that stuffy uniform, and then I can show you how to have some real fun, tough guy."

As a dark glare formed on her muzzle, Judy almost let out a dangerous growl, "I am not a guy."

"Oh, I don't mind," the sparkly bunny said, stepping up to Judy, their noses almost touching.

With a harsh shove, Judy pushed the other rabbit away with both paws, causing her to stumble and land on the bed with a loud flop, and Judy said, "Don't!"

"Ok," the pink rabbit cried with a small tear forming in her eye. "I'm just trying to be a friend."

"The way your acting it seems like you want much more than friendship."

Her deep seductive voice vanished and the doe replied plainly, "I just can't help myself. You're really not like other rabbits... so strong and sure of yourself."

"Thanks, I think."

"I have never met any mammal like you before, and I find that very exciting. And besides, it's pretty obvious that you could really use some intimate attention right now."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Judy's gruff tone returned.

"As soon as you walked down the hall I could feel your desire, like a hungry rolling storm. It fills this room," Cotton gestured vaguely around the room, "and the essence makes me want to swoon."

Judy looked around the room as if she was searching for a hidden ghost. After a second pass her eyes fell on something small and white sitting on top of the minibar. Letting the other rabbit talk, she walked over to check out the small items, not listening to a thing the doe said, "And a bunny only builds up that kind of tension from being in love with someone they can't have. When I see a mammal like you in such distress, I just want to help. Plus my date for the evening was ruined and I'm still feeling very frisky, if you know what I mean."

"Well that's alright then," Judy mumbled, no longer hearing a word the pink rabbit said.

On the counter on top of the minibar was a small plastic bag that contained three tiny white pills. Each pill was a different shape but they were all the same powdery white color. Some left over flakes of power could also been seen at the bottom of the bag.

She picked up the bag, turned around and shook the pills in front of the other rabbit, "Where did you get these?"

"Oh, and the tough guy returns," Cotton replied winking at her.

"Where?!" Judy's voice was almost a yell.

The pink doe's eyes could not focus on the small bag in front of her face, and they kept drifting to look at Judy instead.

"Cotton, where did you get these pills?"

For a brief second she smiled at Judy before frowning as she took a step back to let the bag of pills come into focus. Giggling, she said, "That ugly panda, Charles got them. He gave me one at dinner, saying we would have some real fun."

"You each took one of these?"

"Yeah," Cotton said with several warm giggles, and leaned in to whisper to Judy, "I took two."

"Oh, cheese and crackers. Are you feeling any strange side effects? Dizziness, or a bloody nose?"

"Nope. Just very much in need of some quality attention right now, and really thirsty too," she said smacking her lips dryly.

A slightly ashamed look crossed the pink rabbit's muzzle, "Judy?"

"Yes, Cotton," Judy replied, expecting the worst.

"I am really sorry if I have offended you."

"It's really alright, I grew up in a very large bunny family, so I've seen all kinds."

"That's great," the other rabbit held out her paw to the cop, "Can we still be friends?"

Judy didn't even hesitate before reaching out and grabbing the pink glittery paw, expecting a friendly handshake and replied, "Sure, friends." Instead Cotton pulled her close into a warm hug, and Judy felt something squeeze her fluffy cotton tail. Before she could pull back from the affectionate embrace, she was met with a very wet kiss to the cheek.

Cotton held the kiss for several seconds, making sloppy noises with her mouth as Judy squirmed and tried to escape. The pink rabbit finally released the captive cop when Nick's voice came over her shoulder radio.

"Wilde to Hopps, come in Hopps."

"This is Officer Hopps, over," she answered, trying to hide how flustered she felt from the other rabbit's sudden show of affection.

"They finally caught the guy, and are holding him in a room on the first floor, so hurry up and get your fluffy butt down here," Nick's urgency could be heard even through the scratchy radio.

To the pink rabbit she said, "I really have to be going, but are you going to be ok up here by yourself?"

"Sure. I'll be fine. Go do your tough cop thing," Cotton said waving Judy towards the door. "Oh and if you ever need a friend, you can always call me." She pulled a small business card from somewhere out of the top of her evening gown and handed it to Judy with a wink. "I think I'll just lie down now," she said, then promptly passed out on the bed.

Noticing a small drop of red under the sleeping doe's nose, Judy grabbed her shoulder radio again and called down to Nick urgently, "Officer Wilde, can you send a paramedic up to room 7034 to check on Ms. Candy? Possible OD."

"Roger that, Officer Hopps."

* * *

Once the paramedics arrived to check out the unconscious rabbit, Judy headed down to the first floor and met up with her partner, who was standing outside a rather bleak looking steel door next to the hotel's security station.

"Guess what I found in their room?" the rabbit chirped holding up the small bag of drugs to her partner.

"Don't tell me, this isn't just an assault and battery case anymore?" Nick replied scratching his chin.

"Yep. It looks like the same stuff that giraffe, Mr Flanner, had last week, but with a few varieties mixed in."

"It's called a grab bag, or a candy dish, Fluff. Popular with the kids about a decade ago," the fox explained.

"Huh?"

"You see, everyone brings a batch of their favorite prescriptions, or street pills, and tosses them into bowl, or 'candy dish'. And then they pass it around."

"Sounds pretty scary," Judy said with a shiver.

"It's a fast ticket to the hospital, or even the morgue."

Trying to change the grim subject Judy inquired about the suspect on the other side of the door, "So did you find anything on our perp?"

"Definitely," the uniformed todd replied smugly. "One Charles Osaka, M.D.. Arrived yesterday on Pan Zoo airlines. He has a pretty short list of misdemeanors, drunken disorderly, petty theft, property damages, resisting arrest, and a couple of speeding tickets, not much else." He ticked off each item on his fingers. "I doubt he will spend more than a night in a cell, and probably just get out on bail. It looks like he makes enough to get almost any lawyer in the city."

"Darn. Wait, what did you say about the morgue?"

"What's that Carrots?"

"You just said the mixed drugs were a quick way to the morgue."

"Oh, right. I heard once about this kid who brought their grandma's prescription heart medication to one of these parties. Those mixed with a couple of speed pills and several of the other kids went into cardiac arrest. Unfortunately the one who brought the pills was dead long before the medics arrived."

"Cabbages," Judy exclaimed, shaking her head sadly. "That gives me an idea, Follow my lead," the rabbit hopped happily towards the steel door with the bag of pills firmly grasped in her paw.

"Carrots, wait!" The fox could only follow after his excited partner.

The steel door slammed open with the force of a pair of large feet. Built against the hotel's foundation this brick room was mostly empty, except for a single chair in the center, with a well dressed red panda sitting in it. Bags of mulch, or sawdust were also stacked along one wall, and the room smelled of fresh garden supplies. A small brown bear standing next to the chair jumped when Judy kicked open the door.

With a look of pure evil on her muzzle, the small cop pointed at the bear and said with a commanding voice, "You, out!"

"But..." the puzzled security guard they had met earlier started to reply.

Pointing at the slowly closing door behind her, Officer Hopps simply said, "Out."

The guard shrugged and slowly walked to the door, opened it and left.

"Cuff, em." she gruffly ordered to her partner, "And don't spare any niceties for this dirt bag."

Nick quickly lept behind the chair and cuffed the panda's paws to the back of the chair. He made sure to pull the cuffs painfully tight till the panda cried, "Ow!"

Assured that the panda was now secure in his chair, Judy turned her sinister glare directly at the small mammal. A snarl began to form slowly on her muzzle before she spoke, her voice thick with malice, "Where did you get the drugs, Mr. Osaka?"

Fully taken aback by the evil rabbit before him, Charles could only stutter, "Wha-, what drugs? I don't have any drugs, see." He was a small red panda with an unfamiliar English dialect, and he was dressed in an expensive, dark gray suit that had fresh dirt on the knees. One of his ears was bitten half off, and his left shirt cuff was stained. The bite was old, but the stain was fresh ,and might have been easily removed at the dry cleaners.

The rabbit's glare only deepened.

"Th-th-they they already searched me. All all they found was," the panda stuttered as he pulled against his restraints and tried to stand, "w-was m-my room key and- and my passport. I don't have any drugs."

Judy held up the bag of white pills, and the panda visibly shrunk back into his chair, "Do you remember these?"

"Where did you get those?"

"These are the pills you gave to Mr. Wedgewoods and your escort at the dinner party."

Struggling to stand, the small panda began to yell at the fierce rabbit before him, "What did that filthy bitch tell you..."

"She didn't say anything," Judy cut him off with a snarl. "She won't be saying anything to anyone for a very long time."

"What, what are you saying?" the panda barked.

Standing behind the chair Nick could barely contain his shock at how well his partner played on their suspect's emotions.

"She's dead Mr Osaka!," Judy said, her voice completely cold and flat. "She died in my arms, spitting foaming blood."

"I didn't," he continued to stutter, with Judy's cold and unfeeling glare beating down on him. "I didn't kill anyone!"

"You gave her these pills. The pills that eventually stopped her heart."

The panda slumped back, and if it wasn't for the cuffs, he would have slid all the way to the floor. After several moments he spoke again, "I didn't …"

"You didn't what, Mr. Osaka?"

"I just wanted to have a little fun with her."

Cold, lavender eyes slowly turned crimson as the evil, savage rabbit returned, "You drugged her in order to take advantage of her?"

"W, well …" he started to stutter again.

"Didn't you?!" the rabbit was yelling directly into his face.

"Ye, yea, yes."

"Drugging someone in order to get them to sleep with you is what we call Attempted Rape here in Zootopia."

"So?" the panda just looked on, puzzled.

"Maybe it's ok where you come from, but do you know what they do to rapists in prison here?"

Nick finally spoke up, "They will cut off your privates and find new and exciting ways to make you their own personal love slave. You will probably be pooping out of a straw for the rest of your life... provided you live through the week."

The evil rabbit interjected, "Let me finish."

"What? There's more," Mr Osaka cringed.

Judy only glared daggers at the panda, "I don't take kindly to mammals who come into my town and kill my own kind, Mr. Osaka, so if you're not going to let me finish there won't be anything left for the wolves to find. Are we clear?"

The panda nodded, with a look of horror on his muzzle.

"So, as I was saying, you drugged your date with the intent of taking her to bed. But she wasn't interested in you at all. She was all over your partner like a cheap rug. Am I right?"

"Yeah," he nodded again.

"So you gave them more pills hoping that one or the other would pass out, but things didn't go according to your plan."

He shook his head.

"And you attacked Mr. Wedgewood in a fit of jealousy."

Charles stood up so fast he knocked over the chair that was still attached to his paws.

"Things are not looking good for you at all today," the uniformed rabbit said watching her partner put the chair back in place. "You're looking at possession of an illegal substance, the sale and distribution of said substance, assault, battery, destruction of property, attempted rape, mammal slaughter, and I'm sure the hotel also has a nice list of offenses and a large bill too."

"Mam- mammal slaughter?"

"It means murder, Mr Osaka," the fox said stunned at his partner's sudden aggression.

"Now, I'm only going to ask you one more time. Where did you get these drugs!?" the furious rabbit asked, calmly holding up the bag of pills.

"Think carefully about where you want to spend the rest of your life," Nick cautioned, placing a friendly paw on the panda's shoulder.

Looking over his shoulder for a second he started to answer the rabbits question, "I- I got them at this club downtown. It- it had a blue, neon sign with some kind of whale on the front."

Nick nodded, "The Velvet Orca."

"Yeah, yeah that's what they called it, I think," the panda said, trying to lick his dry lips.

"Interesting choice," the fox replied casually.

Getting the interrogation back on track, the bunny asked another question, "And who at the club gave them to you?"

"I bought them off this tall, snooty, mountain goat. And let me tell you, those suckers weren't cheap." he said once again struggling with his bonds.

"A mountain goat, what kind of mountain goat?"

"Um, ya know, the tall ones, with the big crescent horns that go down past their butts. They always have their noses in the air like they're better than everyone else."

"An ibex," Judy exclaimed.

"I don't know. Whatever you call them around here. I'm just glad we don't have any back home."

"Ok, now we're getting somewhere," as the evil rabbit suddenly fled the room and was replaced by a cheerful, happy bunny. "Did this ibex, happen to have a name?" she asked sweetly.

"None that I ever heard, no," the suspect replied, shaking his head.

And the evil bunny returned as quickly as it had fled, "We're done here. Get this sack of manure out of my sight!"

Following her orders to the letter, Nick turned towards the back wall and lifted one of the sacks of gardening supplies that was stacked there.

Judy could not suppress a deep chuckle at her partners antics. "Not that manure, this one," she motioned to the red panda still cuffed to the chair.

Nick released the bound mammal from the chair and hauled him out to the waiting cruiser.

Later, once they had finished tying up all the loose ends with the security guards and the hotel manager, and were walking out to their car, Nick grabbed her paw and looked directly into here violet eyes. "That was a pretty amazing con you pulled back there, Carrots."

Caught in his deep emerald green pools she held her breath for several moments before she could reply blushing, "Thanks, Nick. I've been practicing."

With a laugh, he said "I just can't believe you did all that with your tail covered in glitter."

"My what!? Where?" the rabbit cried, trying to reach behind her and brushing furiously at her rear. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Stop, Fluff. You're just spreading it all over." Nick exclaimed as he mysteriously pulled his old handkerchief from a hidden pocket, "Here, let me get it." He bent down on one knee, as she turned around showing him her well rounded posterior, and he carefully began to wipe the offending shiny bits from her fluffy tail.

Moments later, he stood and shook out the cloth, "Ok, all better."

The rabbit tried to turn her head to inspect her tail but quickly gave up and instead jumped into the fox's arms. "Thank you, Nick!" Judy exclaimed.

"My pleasure, Carrots," the fox replied with a slight bow before climbing into the cruiser.

A light was shining through a window on the seventh floor, and a shadow with tall fuzzy ears stood fixated on their brief exchange. The shadow held a small paw up to the window and something glittered in the light. As the police car pulled out of the lot, the rabbit-shaped shadow purposefully left the window, closed the drapes and turned out the lights.

* * *

 **[AN] Thank you so much for all the awesome comments. I have really enjoyed reading them all. And I do want to apologize to everyone for not continuing this story sooner. I really do have about 20 chapters in total laid out for this part of the story, and I would really like to be able to share a second part. It has been pretty tough for me to put so much emotion into each chapter when my job leaves me feeling dead and lifeless most days, but I will try not to disappoint, and keep the story flowing as best I can.**

 **A lot of the mystery will be coming together of the next few chapters so lets hope that Nick and Judy aren't to blinded by their own feelings to spot the crucial clues. I would really love to hear from everyone about what they think has been going on. This has been my first mystery story so I would like to know if I am making the clues too obvious.**

 **And I would really like to thank Diavololo over on DiviantArt for all their super amazing comics. Their work has been a real inspiration for me so far.**

 **OneWolfe-**


	11. Chapter 11 - The Velvet Orca

Chapter 11 - The Velvet Orca

A square strip of silver tinted plastic lay on the brown, false wood countertop. The silver strip had clear bubbles evenly spaced across its otherwise flat surface. The bubbles were arranged into four rows of seven, and each had a number running from one to twenty eight, marked along the sides. Inside of each bubble a small spherical object was held captive, within its hermetically sealed shell. Each spheroid was a different color, ranging from blues and reds, to greens and yellows.

Standing in front of the counter was a short rabbit whose fur ranged from light grays to near white under her chin and on her belly. She was wearing only a long t-shirt that was three sizes too large for the small mammal. Her body was leaning over a sink where the faucet was left running, and she rubbed a colorful plastic stick across her large buck teeth, covering it in a thick foamy lather.

After spitting the toothpaste into the flowing water, and rinsing off the toothbrush, she grabbed a small green cup with bright orange carrots engraved on the side, and filled it with fresh water from the tap. She lifted the square strip of pills off the bathroom counter and inspected each one, counting them with her tiny, freshly sharpened claws.

Breaking the seal on the bubble, marked with the number one, she pushed the yellow pill through the silver backing, and lifted it to her mouth. "Well, here goes nothing," she said with a sigh, popping it onto her tongue and washing it down with the water from her carrot glass.

With the glass drained, she firmly placed it back on the edge of the sink. Then she picked up a small white box, made of thick card like paper, and slid the silver lined pack of pills back into its box. The box was promptly placed on a tiny shelf above the bathroom sink, and a small mirror swiveled into place in front of it. Before the mirrored door could close, two large words could be read on the side of the box, "Lagomorph Suppressants."

The rabbit headed back to her mixed living, and bedroom. Other than the bathroom, it was the only room in her tiny apartment. She quickly changed out of her night shirt and into the standard issue ZPD uniform, then left the apartment quietly, closing the door behind her. Unlike her noisy neighbors, she was actually a very quiet and polite bunny.

Weekends were normally this rabbit's days off, however today was special, Judy and her partner had a big lead to follow, but first they needed to check in with their boss.

* * *

A single brown, steel and plastic chair sat in the center of a large, braided green carpet, lining the floor of a huge, square room. Before the lonely chair, was a tremendous oak desk, littered with giant file folders, and enormous reports. Off to one side of the desk, sat an immense push button telephone, and in front of the phone sat a brass plaque with the letters 'CHIEF BOGO' engraved into it.

The rest of the room was lined with shelves, holding giant books, and boxes of case files. A tree like lamp stood tall in one corner next to a skyscraper sized filing cabinet, while a titanic tapestry of the city map hung on the far wall. High up on a wall near the room's colossal door was a humongous calendar showing the month of June.

Seated behind the immense desk, was a gargantuan mammal wearing the blue uniform of the Zootopia Police Department. With both front hooves firmly planted on top of his desk, the monstrous cape buffalo glared down at the sturdy utilitarian chair before him.

On this chair sat two tiny mammals, a small, fluffy gray bunny with dark tipped ears, and a red fox with a shiny black nose. The rabbit patiently waited on one side of the seat, with her paws folded in her lap, while her partner continued to poke her in the ribs, causing her to squirm and shift, until she finally had to swat his paws away, and firmly punch him in the shoulder before he stopped pestering her.

"Enough!" the buffalo bellowed. "The two of you are going to have to charge this guy with something, or let him go." A huge fisted hoof slammed down on the enormous desk, causing a stack of papers to fall over. "His lawyer is furious that we won't even let him speak to his client."

Standing up in the oversized chair, and pointing through the tremendous door behind her, the rabbit spoke pleadingly, "We both know that lawyer is just going to bail Mr. Osaka out the second those charges hit your desk."

Placing an open hoof to his brow, he wiped the appendage across his eyes, and down his muzzle, "By law, we can only contain a mammal for no more than 24 hours, without charge."

"Fine," the smallest officer sighed. "Can you please stall the lawyer for that long?"

"Alright," Chief Bogo stated curiously, "I'll bite. What's this all about, Hopps?"

The rabbit's tone became serious, while explaining the situation to her boss, "He had no idea what was in those pills, Sir. He could have killed both his date and his friend." Her paws balled into tiny fists. "I just want that prick to think about what he did last night."

"Hopps!" the buffalo bellowed again, slamming the other fist on the desk, sending a file folder to the floor. "You are one of my best officers, but we can't just go around inflicting our own personal justice on the mammals of this city whenever we want to. That's not how our legal system works."

"But, Sir," she pleaded. "He will never even see the inside of a courtroom. He'll just pay the fines for the damages, and be out of Zootopia and drilling teeth again before next week."

Glaring at his two smallest officers, his eyes slowly softened and the smoke rolling from his nostrils eventually subsided, "Fine, I'll try to stall the lawyer, but you two are lucky this hasn't turned into an international incident, or there could be a lot more hell to pay."

Jumping to his feet, the fox finally spoke up, "Well, Carrots, that's our cue, let's get buffalo b..."

"Wilde," Bogo glared at the tiny uniformed fox, "if you want another suspension, please, go ahead and finish that sentence."

Stepping off the right side of the chair, the fox attempted to quickly cover his verbal slip, "What I meant to say, was that we should get going on those reports for the Chief."

"You're right," exclaimed the rabbit, following her partner as he sauntered towards the door.

"Hopps, Wilde," the Chief called to them. "The lab wanted to see you two, regarding those pills. So stop buy and check with Phil before heading back to your desks."

Pumping a tiny fist in the air, Judy exclaimed, "About time they got back to us."

Saluting to her boss, the rabbit carefully closed the immense door as she left his office.

"What was that about, Fluff?" the fox asked his smaller partner.

Grabbing his dark paw, she pulled him to the nearest set of stairs, "Come on Nick, hurry up! The chemistry lab is finally done analyzing those drugs we found."

"Just what I wanted to do today," Nick said with a loud sigh, "talk to more scientists."

When the two small officers arrived at the lab, they found it clean, quiet, and the smell of strong chemicals burnt their noses. A young deer, in a white lab coat, walked up to them, and placed an older mouse on the counter, at eye level, and his tiny claws clacked on the shiny black, marble surface. The mouse was dressed in a long, white lab coat, with several tiny pens in his pocket. He also had a fashionable pair of spectacles mounted on his long, twitchy nose.

"Afternoon, Phil," Judy greeted the lab's director, while Nick swiveled his head, looking around the nearly white room.

"Ah, Officer Hopps, so good to see you today," the mouse said with a thick British accent, as he clapped his paws together. "And, Wilde," he said to the fox, frowning. "I take it this isn't just a social call, hmm?"

"Yes, the Chief said the results on those drugs were in."

"Of course, right this way, follow me," Phil stated, running along the counter. He stopped when he reached an open laptop sitting on the black marble countertop. On the screen, danced a complex pattern of molecules.

Waving to the screen, the mouse apologized, "I am sorry it took us so long to get these results, but that first batch you brought us was really very complicated."

"Complicated, in what way?" the rabbit queried.

"Do you see this structure here?" he pointed to the large chemical model before him.

"Yes, but what is it?"

"That," Phil explained, "is your typical hand made street drug. But with a few interesting modifications. Whoever made this was really quite skilled."

"So a few clever additives made this take so long?" the fox interjected sarcastically.

"Oh, hardly," the mouse quickly shot back, shoving his glasses farther up on his nose. "We know exactly what this little cocktail does."

Placing her paw on the counter, Judy attempted to take the mouse's focus away from her partner's pesky comments, "Please, go on. What does this stuff do?"

"Well, to sum it up, this beauty has some light hallucinogenic effects, as well as causing the heart to race."

"So you would have a pretty intense speed trip if you took the stuff?" Nick commented, fiddling with one of the lab's microscopes.

"I guess you could say that," Phil agreed, "but it's also a pretty strong blood thinner. Combined with a methamphetamine, that would cause some serious health issues, the least of which would be the hemorrhaging of any soft tissues."

"Like a bloody nose!" Judy exclaimed, jumping in the air.

"Yes, and causing them to bruise easily."

"Ok, this seems like a pretty typical homemade street candy, so what's the catch?" said the fox, casually watching the other lab worker type up a report, on his computer across the room.

"I agree," the mouse added. "This stuff isn't so remarkable in itself, it's what it's laced with."

"What?" both the fox and the rabbit asked in unison.

"Or more accurately, what it's layered on top of."

A puzzled look crossed Judy's face, "What do you mean, 'On top of?'"

"You see, what makes this pills so complicated is that this 'recreational drug' is coated on top of various other substances."

"Rutabagas, why would anyone do something like that?" Judy cursed.

"To increase the size and weight of the pills," Nick added, crossing the room, his full attention on what the white dressed brown mouse was saying. "So they can sell the drugs for a higher price. Sounds like an easy way to make a quick buck."

"Yes, that is what we were thinking," Phil said pulling up pictures of the pills Judy found at the hotel. "Here are the three you brought in last night."

Judy nodded in agreement, "They all have different shapes. So they must be different types of drugs?"

"Correct," the lab director affirmed, "this oblong one is a generic form of Viagra, that has been coated with a batch of our homemade stuff, and the smaller, circular one is a rare and expensive type of testosterone enhancer."

Nick chuckled, "That's a pretty common mix to see together. But what's this larger one on the end."

"Ah!" the mouse exclaimed, "Now that my friend, is the real ticket." Hitting a few buttons on the giant keyboard, an animation began to play, showing the third pill splitting open, and several layers were cut away. "These are the ones you brought in last week."

"But I thought it was one of the three from the new bunch."

"They are the same kind of pills."

"What is it?"

We honestly have no idea what this stuff is, or any possible uses." Phil said, scratching his tiny chin, and pushing up his spectacles. "It is built in layers, like a gobstopper."

"A what?" the rabbit officer asked.

"A jaw breaker, Carrots." the fox replied.

"Those are always fun to chew on," Judy said mimicking taking a bite of something with her giant fore-tooth.

"Right, anyways," the doctor added. "We found several very strange drugs layered on top of each other in some sort of time release fashion. There were several estrogen enhancers and hormone modifiers, a dopamine, an antidepressant, a pituitary stimulant, and even a strange stimulant that is commonly used for preventing programmed cell deaths in mental patients."

Both officers just stared at the mouse blankly with their mouths wide, as if they were trying to catch flies. Looking at her partner, Judy shook her head, and noted, "We have no idea what any of that means."

The white robed deer who had recently crossed the room, interjected, "Pardon the doctor, but let me try to summarize what he means."

"Sure, Jake, go ahead," the older, and smaller scientist replied.

Straightening his tie, Jake continued, "What we think we have here, is a mix of fertility, sexual dysfunction, alzheimer's, and some mild cancer treatment drugs."

"That seems like a really strange combination," Judy pointed out.

"I know! And that's not the strangest thing in these pills," the mouse continued.

"Really? What could be stranger than a bunch of seemingly unrelated drugs?" Nick criticized.

Phil hit a few more buttons on the laptop, and the pill's animation continued to play. The pill was split down the middle, and a liquid flowed from the center that appeared to have several spiky, hexagonal shaped spheres.

"In the center of each one. Inside a special protective layer is some kind of virus, that no one here can seem to identify."

"That is seriously scary, Doc," the fox observed, slowly backing towards the door, trying to put as much room as possible between himself, and the creepy balls on the screen.

"Not to worry though," the mouse asserted. "These little buggers seem to be fairly benign. And they seem to die at the drop of a hat, once released from their shells. We think with how fragile they seem to be, that a mild antiviral serum would make quick work of them."

Still not convinced, Nick opened the door to precinct one's chemistry lab, and turned to his partner, "Come on Carrots. We still have those charges to finish filing, for a certain nasty panda."

Fascinated by the small viruses floating on the screen, Judy barely heard the fox.

"Carrots," Nick called to her again.

Jumping suddenly, at the sound of her partner's voice, she thanked the two scientists, and left the lab with the fox.

Hours passed by, while the two small cops worked on filing their reports from the incident at the hotel. Judy worked filling out the details for the hotel, while Nick did the victim reports.

A reddish brown tail lazily swished back and forth between their chairs, to occasionally land in the rabbit's lap. The first time it happened, she hardly noticed, but when she found herself casually petting the rogue appendage, she forcefully swatted it away. It did however, return to her lap several minutes later, only to be swatted away again.

Several more times before they finished the reports, the tail returned, and Judy pretended not to thoroughly enjoy each time that it did.

Together, they returned to the Chief's office once all the paperwork was complete, and placed their reports on his desk.

"Two hours to spare," Bogo criticized. "I hope you two weren't stalling too much on these."

"As a matter of fact, Chief..." Nick started to point out.

"Can it, Wilde!"

"Yes, Sir," the fox saluted, starting to learn to have some manners towards his boss.

"With the extra time you should be getting ready for this evening."

"Getting ready?" the rabbit asked.

"This evening?" Nick added.

"I am expecting the two of you to follow up on this lead, and go check out that nightclub that Mr. Osaka mentioned," Bogo said, sorting the freshly completed stack of police reports held in his hooves.

"We will get right on that, Chief," Judy proclaimed.

Setting the new reports in their proper folder, the buffalo looked across the desk at his smallest officers, "I suggest you change into civilian clothes, in order to better fit in with the other club goers."

"So this is to be an undercover mission, Chief?" the fox asked excitedly.

"Nothing so elaborate Wilde," Bogo said, shaking his huge head. "We just don't want the dealers getting tipped off before we can find out who they are."

"Sounds exactly like an undercover job to me."

"Whatever. Get your tails out of my office then," he said, pointing to the large door behind them.

* * *

Nick climbed out of the tall Zuber cab, wearing a slick black button-up shirt, and a pair of tight gray pants. He held his dark red paw out behind him, and a smaller, gray paw, fell lightly into his. The second paw was attached to a short slender rabbit, who smiled up at him from the seat.

The rabbit carefully stepped from the cab, while holding her partner's paw. She was wearing a fashionable coral dress, with a lacey trim, and a string of bright beads around one ear. In her other paw she clutched a small, shiny black purse, with a long shoulder strap, and a cell phone peeking out through the top. A small bulge on her hip, barely revealed the presence of a concealed weapon.

Lifting his phone, the fox opened the Zuber app, and keyed in a respectable tip, before closing the cab door, and waving farewell to the chinchilla driver.

Turning around, he saw Judy staring up at the side of the building, where the Zuber driver had dropped them off. It was a moderate building for mammals of all sizes, but what caught the rabbit's attention was the large neon sign, of a leaping whale. Blue letters to the left of the whale spelled out the words, 'Velvet Orca.'

Admiring the rabbit's dress, the fox said, "Has anyone told you how lovely that dress looks on you?"

Lifting the hem slightly, and brushing imaginary dust from her chest, she replied, "This old thing?"

"Yes, it really suits you."

"Thanks," the rabbit blushed furiously, "You look nice tonight too, Nick."

"Well, it's still early, the sun just set. So do you want to go and find something to eat?"

"Why don't we scope the place out first, set up a perimeter, and then meet back at the bar."

"Whoa, easy there, Carrots," the fox held up both his paws. "We're supposed to act like 'normal' mammals tonight, remember?"

Judy chuckled with a slight blush, "Oh right, I just forgot." She adjusted her belt, trying to better cover the weapon on her hip. "It's just that I don't want us to get cornered, or caught with our guard down."

"Sure, we can take this slow and careful, but let's at least pretend like we're having fun."

"Fun, right," the pretty rabbit said with a sigh. With a more determined look in her eye, she marched towards the door, "I can have fun."

"Carrots, wait," Nick called to her. When she turned around, he was holding his elbow out gentlemammally like, "I wouldn't want my little bunny getting lost in such a big place."

"Har har," she said, rolling her eyes at him, yet she still took his arm, while smiling like she couldn't have been happier.

Arm in arm, they walked into the club, the fox sliding through the door slyly, while the bunny was hopping and skipping like a schoolgirl, her ears bouncing behind her like two long braids.

Inside, the club was comfortably lit with strips of neon, and some kind of retro-futuristic lamps, made from sheets of brass, and balls of colored plastic, hung from the high, arched ceiling. It wasn't so bright as to be painful to nocturnal mammals, but also not so dark to feel like you were outside at night. The light almost felt moody, but not oppressive, and both Nick and Judy felt that they could unwind after a long day's work.

Looking around, they spotted several mammals already out on the dance floor, jumping and gyrating to the smooth and synthetic, techno beat.

"Isn't that Mrs. Fisher, over there?" Judy asked, pointing to a skinny beaver dancing behind and between several taller mammals.

"What? Where?" Nick asked, trying not to shout over the loud music.

"Over there," the rabbit pointed again, "I thought I saw Mrs. Fisher."

"Mrs. Who?" the fox asked again, this time almost kneeling down to hear the small rabbit.

"I just saw a beaver that looked like Mrs. Fisher, from that break-in last week," Judy nearly had to yell into the fox's ear.

"Oh, maybe we should go say hi."

"Yeah, maybe. But why don't we head to the bar and start asking around first?"

"Great idea, Fluff."

Still holding each other's arms, they strolled casually up to the bar, when Judy chirped excitedly, "Hey, I know her," and pointed at a small brown fox, sitting at the bar. Letting go of Nick, she hopped over to the bar, waving enthusiastically at the other fox.

When the kit fox finally saw the pretty rabbit, waving both paws, and bouncing in her direction, she slid off the bar stool to give Judy a big hug. "Hey, how are you? I didn't expect to see you in a place like this."

"Yeah, I know, Nick and I really should get out more." Judy said with a small laugh.

"So who's your friend, Carrots?" Nick asked, waltzing up and casually placing his paw on her shoulder.

Subconsciously, Judy reached up and laid her own paw atop his, "Oh, I'm sorry, I never got a chance to catch your name."

The kit fox put a paw over her muzzle to cover her blush when she noticed Nick's affection towards Judy. "You can call me Tabby," she said, holding out her paw, "and this must be the fox friend you were telling me about?"

Nick shook the other fox's paw as the smaller female continued, "I honestly didn't believe you at first. With the way most rabbits feel about foxes in this city, I thought you were just saying that to make me feel better."

"Nope, Nick and I really are best friends, aren't we?" the gray rabbit said, shoving her elbow deep into the red fox's ribs.

"Absolutely, one hundred percent," he said, trying to ignore the small elbow in his gut. Picking her up, he twirled her around in the air causing her to squeal, and her short skirt to swish revealingly.

The moment Judy's paws again touched the ground, another rabbit walked up to them, with two drinks in her paws, and demanded from Tabby, "And who is this?" She barely even motioned to the taller fox, and gray bunny, before jealously planting her deep, red lips, onto the kit fox's muzzle. The new rabbit was a splotchy, mixed colored mammal, that had well rounded hips, but a toned chest and arms. She was wearing a rather masculine, tank top style gym shirt, without any bra, and dark tight jeans.

"Hey, sweety," the light brown fox replied, "this is, um, um." She waved her paw helplessly toward Judy, but could not remember the gray rabbit's name.

"Judy." Judy assisted.

"Right," taking one of the drinks from the tri-colored rabbit, Tabby continued. "Honey, this is Judy. I met her at the store a few days ago." The new rabbit gave Judy a flat glare. "And this is her boyfriend, Nick, was it?"

Before Nick could stop her, Judy automatically replied, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Well you might want to keep that to yourself then," the tough looking rabbit cautioned. "If the ladies in here found out that a sharp looking fox, like him, is single, he won't be for very long."

Nick snorted, and firmly placed his paw back on Judy's shoulder, while Judy looked puzzled.

"And Judy, Nick, this is," she waved her glass at the other rabbit and planted a tender kiss on her cheek, "this is my lover, Jo."

Judy held out her paw to the other rabbit, "So nice to meet you."

The multi colored, butch rabbit, who instead of shaking the proffered paw, simply downed her dark brown drink in one gulp, then slammed the glass on to the bar. After a crisp sigh, she exhaled in a flat tone, "Pleasure."

Tabby covered her muzzle with a paw, and snickered at her girlfriend's antics, before Jo grabbed her shoulder and they headed to the dance floor. "Hey hun, let's get our groove on, before all the good music is gone," Jo said.

The kit fox waved back at the other couple, while being led roughly by her girlfriend, "You two have fun now."

"You too, Tabby," Judy yelled over the fresh round of music, and waved in return.

"That was fascinating," Nick commented sarcastically, "Where did you say you met them again?"

"Tabby? I met her at the mall a few days ago when," she caught herself before accidentally telling Nick that she had only recently bought the dress she was wearing.

With the smaller couple now dancing their hearts out to the very loud music, Nick took a step up to the bar, and signaled to the bartender. Within a few moments, a meerkat stopped in front of him and asked, "Yeah, what can I get yah?" She was a pretty mammal, in her late forties, and dressed in a blue t-shirt with the outline of the leaping whale on the front.

Nick pulled his wallet out of a pocket and placed it in front of the bartender, with his badge facing up. The meerkat only scoffed, and looked up at the fox, unimpressed, "I don't give discounts to anyone, not even cops."

"We're not looking for any handouts, ma'am," Judy decided to interject.

"Then what do you want? If you're here to harass my employees, or customers, you're going to have to go through me first."

"We are looking for a mammal, an ibex, who may have frequented this place," the gray rabbit tried to calm the irate club owner.

"An ibex, hmm?" the bartender said thoughtfully. "Don't see many of them around here. Most are just too snooty to be caught dancing with other mammals. And good riddance to them I'd say."

"That's unfortunate. We heard there was one here recently," Nick mentioned, putting his badge back in his pocket.

"Well, I do know one ibex," she said, shaking her head. "Goes by the name Doc, but they haven't been around in a couple of weeks."

Judy's started hopping in place once she heard the name 'Doc.'

"And do you know where we could find him?" Nick asked calmly.

"'Her', actually. And no, I wouldn't have any idea where she is," the club owner said while filling a couple of beers, and handing them off to one of the servers. "She only comes in on weekends. The crowd loves her though."

"The crowd?" Judy asked puzzled.

"Yeah, when she does show up, she gets up on stage and plays a few sets."

"So this ibex works for you?"

Letting out a big laugh, the meerkat replied, "Hardly, dearie. Weekends are kind of like 'open mic nights'. Anyone is free to jump on the turntables for a few rounds, so it's a great place for upcoming DJ's to strut their stuff, and get a feel for the crowds."

"What about this 'Doc?'" the rabbit continued to question the owner.

"Like I said, the crowd always loves when she gets up on stage. I've tried to talk her into a more regular position, but she has always shrugged me off. She won't even take any cash under the table. It's a real shame though."

"A shame? Why is that?"

"Because the crowds would be so much bigger if I could count on talent like her to show up on a regular schedule."

The fox stepped in to ask, "Any idea when she will be around again?"

"No clue," the meerkat said frowning. "Stick around awhile, and you might get lucky. Listen to some music, and enjoy yourselves while you're here."

"That really sounds great. What do you say, Slick?" Judy asked, punching her partner's shoulder. "You just said we should try and have some fun."

"You got me there, Carrots." Nick sighed, climbing up on the bar stool.

"So what can I get you two?"

"Got any rabbit snacks?"

"Of course," the meerkat exclaimed with a glint in her eye. "Only the finest cheese smothered carrot chips this side of the burrows."

Judy smacked her lips and started to drool at the sound of all that cheesy, deep-fried, carroty goodness, "We will have one of those please."

"Sure thing, coming right up," the owner said, typing the order into her handheld kiosk. "Oh, and you, dearie, can call me Sandra, if you need anything else." Then she promptly waltzed off to tend to another customer.

Seeing Judy eat her smothered carrot chips, Nick decided to order his own snack of fried bugs, and once his food arrived, they both sat watching the crowd of mammals ebb and flow as the night progressed.

While she was snacking, Judy looked around the large club. Off to one side, but near the bar, was a group of oval shaped tables, and comfortable round chairs. All of the chairs were filled with a variety of different animals, and no two types of mammals sat together. Judy thought it odd to see such a sociable diversity. A brown hare was chatting with a ferret, and a heart tailed deer was hugging a brown and gray wolf, before they walked over to the dance floor.

The large dance floor was covered in a seemingly random pattern of colored tiles that matched the colorful animals frolicking on and around it. All manner of mammals danced together, and once again Judy could not spot a single couple that were of the same species. A rhino pranced with a hippo, and a second hippo twirled his feline date, while dozens of smaller couples wove their way around them.

Looking past the frolicking crowd, the stage was elevated several feet above them, and carried two separate turntable and mixer rigs. One was a relatively simple setup, with little more than a pair of old fashion record players and a mixing deck. The other was far more complicated, with hundreds of dials and switches, and computerized displays. It also had rigging for lights and other effects. The current DJ was standing at the simpler one, but the crowd was still enjoying the music.

Several support mammals continuously moved around behind the various DJs, coming and going on and off the stage. Some brought drinks and snacks to the performers, while others ran wires and adjusted the lighting or other effects.

Interrupting the rabbit's thoughts, a bobcat and beaver couple sat next to them, and ordered a couple of drinks. The bobcat spotted Nick first, "Hey, it's that friendly cop from last week," Mr Fisher said, shaking the fox's paw, and Mrs. Fisher gave Judy a polite hug. The middle aged couple was dressed like a pair of teenagers, fitting right in with the other mammals at the club.

"Love your dress," Judy said to the older beaver. The beaver was dressed in what looked like a school uniform. She wore a long black skirt, with a white liner, and had a black top over a tight white shirt. While remaining tasteful, her outfit was still very alluring, in all the right places.

"Yours too," Mrs. Fisher replied, casually touching the lace trim on Judy's skirt. "I wish I could wear that color."

The two females giggled, and chatted about summer fashions, while Nick and Rodgier talked about how things were going with the cleanup of the Fisher's house. Once the couple's drinks were gone, they both said their farewells, and left the dance club, seeking quieter entertainments.

After an hour of snacking, chatting, and sharing fruity cocktails, the tod and the bunny decided to take a turn on the dance floor. More accurately, it was the rabbit who had to drag the fox, kicking and screaming the whole way.

Judy really enjoyed the upbeat hip-hop and techno mix that was playing. It wasn't the latest pop that she normally listened too, but she kept her paws in the air, and danced around the fox in her skipping, hopping rabbit style.

Occasionally she would shake her hips, and do a little twirl, whenever she thought Nick was watching, causing the lacey skirt to swish against his legs. He wasn't much of a dancer, but she liked watching his hips sway, once he was able to unwind, and let loose a little. And what really brought the red to her cheeks, and ears, was when his tail would somehow manage to brush against her back, when she finished those quick twirls.

A tall coyote bumped into Nick in the middle of the third song. She was wearing a tight frilly outfit that was better left in the bedroom than on a dance floor. The lanky mammal was swaying and staggering, and seemed not to even notice the smaller fox. She bumped into him twice more, and almost stepped on his paws.

"Hey, watch those hooves!" he cried, before grabbing Judy's paws, and moving away from the center of the floor.

"That was pretty rude," Judy shouted over the loud music.

"Yeah, and she smelled of strong alcohol too."

The song abruptly ended, leaving several of the couples, including Nick and Judy, still dancing away. A brief pause, as the DJs switched, before the next song started up again, left everyone standing around to catch their breath.

Roughly a third of the crowd left the floor in front of the stage, and headed to the tables and the bar. The song was fairly slow, and most of the remaining mammals were clutched close together, twirling in long, slow circles.

Not wanting to cause a scene, Judy started to walk back to the bar, but was surprised when her paw was caught. Without warning she felt her body being yanked backwards, and spun around until her tiny, pink nose was pressed against a black, silk shirt. She let out a gasp of surprise, trying to break free from the dark red paws that held her tight. Her struggles ceased when she looked up, into the pair of green pools, that slowly melted her will.

A button on the black shirt came loose, and small, sharp claws clutched at the creamy orange fur beneath. With the fox's arms wrapped around her, the rabbit followed his lead, as they swayed and turned across the floor, to the slow, tinny music. She placed her paw around his waist, and tried to burrow her muzzle into his chest, inhaling the sweet aroma of rich musk and fresh blueberries.

Peace and safety filled the rabbit, bringing her thoughts of home in the burrows. A bright summer's day, running through the fields, or hiking in the hills behind the farm. All the excitement and worry, that came with living in the city vanished, and Judy had never felt happier. Her hind paws felts like they were stepping on clouds, as she closed her eyes and blissfully hummed along with the music.

At first, Nick thought it was important to maintain their cover, while trying to fit in with the other mixed couples. But as soon as the pretty rabbit fell into his arms he was lost, drowning into those deep purple eyes. His breath caught in his throat, watching her bright pink nose twitching up at him eagerly.

She was the most beautiful mammal in the room, she was the only mammal in the room. His arms wrapped gently around her, and her nose burrowed into the silk on his chest, as they turned and twirled slowly together. He never wanted to let this bunny go.

His emotions were flooded with a deep awe for the little rabbit that had changed his life. Warmth and desire filled his heart. He leaned down towards her as she opened her eyes. There muzzles moved closer, and nearly touched, when she casually put her small finger into his mouth.

The dreams had returned. Yet, instead of running through the dark city streets, she was dancing on a beautiful silver cloud, flying high above the city. The bright sun was shining down on her, and it's light filled her with warmth and happiness.

In her dream the sharp fangs returned, only now the menacing fear, was replaced by a feeling of safety and comfort. She stopped dancing across the cloud, and reached up to touch the fangs. When her tiny gray paws came into contact with the floating white teeth, her body was filled with a shimmering ray of hope.

Nick sputtered, and coughed, and pulled the rabbits paw from his mouth, while trying not to stumble. Seeing the surprised look on her face, he carefully lifted her paw and planted a gentle kiss on her knuckle.

Looking into his green eyes, Judy placed both paws on his cheek, and pulled his muzzle closer to hers. She closed her violet eyes, and stood on her toes with her lips puckered.

The soft music stopped, and the lights went out. It was pitch black in the club, except at the bar, and the stage. Somewhere a mammal screamed, and the dance floor was flooded with multicolored laser beams.

Suddenly the two small cops were surrounded by dozens of mammals, jumping, screaming in excitement and chanting together, "Doc, Doc, Doc." After a minute of chanting, a single spotlight dropped down onto the center of the stage, where a tall female ibex stood in front of the DJ's turntables.

Standing in front of the more complex of the two sound systems, the ibex was wearing a long, white lab coat, over very tight, and revealing black, lace lingerie. In her right paw was a short riding crop, and on her head was strapped a very elaborate, bit and bridle set, that would allow her to only speak in mumbles.

Doc raised her riding crop, and the lasers dropped to the floor, and the entire club went silent, holding their breath. When the whip fell, the music started, fast, harsh, and very loud. The crowd loved it! They hopped, and stomped together, like rolling thunder that filled the club.

To Nick and Judy's small paws, it felt like a stampede, and they were fully caught in its energy. The thrill and excitement was so overwhelming, that all they could do was dance. For nearly a quarter of an hour they swung, hopped, twirled, and gyrated along with the intense, and erie beat.

When the music stopped, and the lights in the club came back on, Nick and Judy could only stand there gasping for breath. The rabbit was the first to recover, she grabbed her partner's arm and cried, pointing at the ibex exiting the stage, "Nick, she is getting away."

His attention snapped back into focus, and the fox ran across the club to the stage entrance, hoping to intercept the DJ. Charging through the door and up the stairs, he barreled into a scantily dressed coyote, knocking them both down.

"I'm so sorry," he apologized, climbing to his feet, and continued to race up the stairs.

Once he reached the stage level, he tripped again, this time on a large duffel bag, that was casually tossed on the floor, near the stage entrance. If he was not in such a hurry, he might have spotted the white sleeve, and a black riding crop, sticking out the side of the bag. The ibex was nowhere to be seen.

He ran all over the backstage, having to flash his badge several times, to keep from getting thrown out. But he eventually returned to Judy, who was waiting for him at the bar. His head was held low, and his tail hung between his legs.

"I lost her," he said ashamed.

"That's ok, Slick. I took photos," the rabbit exclaimed, holding up her phone.

"Way to go, Carrots," Nick cheered, giving the small rabbit a hip bump. "Way to save my tail."

Judy bumped her partner back, "Bogo is not going to be happy that we lost the suspect, again."

"I don't know, Carrots," the fox said, thumbing through the pictures on Judy's phone. "This 'Doc' almost looks familiar. But I can't seem to place where I've seen them before."

Snapping her fingers, Judy chirped up, "That's it! Come on Nick, we have to get back to the ZPD."

"Why, what for?"

"So we can run these pictures through the Muzzle Recognition Database," the rabbit exclaimed dragging her partner out the front door.

* * *

 **[AN] I hope everyone enjoys this short extension of the hotel scene. Instead of making this chapter longer I decided to focus more on the quality. As part of the proof reading process I actually listened to it with a screen reader. Even with as poor as the computer voice sounded it really helped me hear the flow of each sentence. I strong recommend everyone else give it a try when they are writing.**

 **This was a fun little chapter to write. It wasn't part of my original plan, but I think it helped expand on what happened at the hotel as well as brought the Fishers back into the story. I really don't know if we will be seeing more of them, but one can always hope.**

 **Please let me know if you enjoyed the fluffy dance scene, because the next few chapters will be some more serious police work with little time for romance.**

 **If you are curious to know what kind of music Doc was playing check out a song called Zion by Fluke on YouTube. Really anything by that artist seems to fit the mood I was going for.**


	12. Chapter 12 - Broken Plans

Chapter 12 - Broken Plans

A small cup of cold coffee sat in front of a large, flat screen. The tiny closet sized room was dark, except for the bright light emanating from the monitor. Several muzzles flashed by on the screen. Each one paused for a second as geometric graffiti was splashed across them randomly.

Two droopy, lavender eyes stared at the screen, as the pictures flickered by. The rabbit's gray cheek slowly slipped from the palm of her paw, and her eyes closed. When her small muzzle finally fell to the table, she jerked her head back up, and took a long gulp from the nearly empty cup.

Sitting in front of the oversized computer, Judy watched hundreds of mammals fly by on the screen, while the Muzzle Recognition Software played it's own private game of Connect the Dots. Or was it Tic-Tac-Toe, as her partner had familiarly described the flying dots and lines?

First a series of dots appeared on the muzzle picture on the right side of the screen. Then lines were drawn between each of the dots in a bizzare pattern. Next the computer compared this pattern to a similar pattern drawn on the left side of the screen, covering the picture of an underdress goat in a nightclub. When the patterns didn't match, the screen would flash red slightly and the picture on the right was replaced by a new one, and the process started all over again. All these patterns were drawn and compared in less time than Judy could blink twice.

Sipping the coffee again, she shuddered at the ice cold brew. The cup was in need of a refill, but she had to stay and babysit the computer. Nick had gone to top off his own over an hour ago, but still had not returned.

"What is taking him so long?"

Ignorant of her need for liquid stimulants, the computer continued to chug and grind away. It had been at it for almost three days now, and still could not find a single match to the photos she took at the dance club.

"It's like she doesn't even exist!" Judy had said to her partner, before his usual disappearing act. The tod had managed to stay up all night going through traffic camera records across the city, while she curled up in a comfortable chair, meant for much larger mammals. He was probably exhausted, so she couldn't blame him if he fell asleep on the way to the nearest pot of coffee.

Even with the few hours of sleep from earlier this morning, she still didn't feel refreshed enough to keep her eyes from sliding shut. Her body strongly desired to return to her own bed. How long had it been since she last saw her apartment? Two, no three days, and almost twice as long since speaking to her parents.

She felt a small zap of static, as her ears brushed the large computer monitor, and she quickly sat upright again.

The computer beeped, and the pictures stopped flashing past the screen. A small message had appeared across the last image, "END OF FILE," it read.

Sighing, she typed on the keyboard that was nearly as long as she was tall. With a few taps and clicks, she selected the next set of files for the system to search. "That's it for local criminals from the last 50 years. I guess the state pen is next, and that will be the last of our records."

Once the new set of images began to flash by on the screen, the door behind her suddenly swung open, revealing the silhouette of a uniformed predator. Through the bright light that flooded the small room, several racks and boxes of files could be seen behind him.

An angry glare blanketed the rabbit's face as she turned to face her partner. "Where have you been?" she demanded, and promptly threw her coffee cup at him. The few remaining drops in the bottom splashed on the legs of his uniform.

Not bothering to dodge the offensive drinking vessel, he simply lifted a flat, white and pink box, with the letters, "The Big Donut," written on it's side. "After such a long night, I thought it would be nice to buy some breakfast to help cheer up a certain grumpy bunny."

"It doesn't take two hours to buy donuts," the rabbit indicated suspiciously. "The Big Donut is only a block away."

"Complications arose, ensued, and were finally overcome," he said with a halting flair, and passed her a round pastry covered with orange frosting.

One eyebrow raised, "Complications! What complications?" she asked, taking a bite of the carroty donut. "Mmm, this is really good."

"When was the last time you tried to sneak a box of donuts past our fearless dispatch officer?"

She could not hold onto the angry glare long, as another delicious confection was passed under her muzzle. It was joined by a fresh cup of steaming coffee. "Fine," she said with a sigh, letting go of her suspicions.

"So did the computer find anything while I was out dodging giant spotted pastry assassins, and other breakfast debauchers?"

"Nothing," she said flatly, her ears dropped behind her head. "I put the last set of files into the system. If they come back empty, then we are out of luck."

"That's unfortunate, Carrots. What will we do now?"

The room went dark, as a large bulky shadow filled the doorway, and a deep gruff voice exclaimed, "You're off the case."

Judy jumped to her feet in the large chair, and unsuccessfully tried to salute, with a half eaten donut in her paw. Nick attempted to pass the box to his boss, but the buffalo just waved it off.

"I have already sent those photos of yours to the ZBI." the buffalo stated.

"But Chief," Judy cried.

"Enough, Hopps. The ZBI can do a much broader search with their access to federal and international files," Bogo explained. "Besides, all we know is that some mammal, that goes by the name Doc, is selling custom street drugs..."

Holding up her phone, Judy interrupted him, "But we have photos of the perp."

"No! All you have are photos of some DJ in a nightclub, with the same name as our suspected dealer," he said scowling down at the tiny rabbit. "We have no other evidence that they are the seller, or the chemist for that matter."

"We should head back to that club, and keep a closer eye on it," Nick added.

"I have already assigned Officers Swinton and Shelles to keep an eye on things at the club. For now, I'm putting a hold on this drug case."

"Chief, you can't just take us off this case now," the small gray officer pleaded.

Nick joined his partner, putting his paw on her shoulder, "We've gathered all the evidence, and filed all the related reports. So why are you taking us off this case?"

"All you two have so far are a pawful of dead ends, and stacks of misinformation, so I am giving you a break, until some more solid evidence is found," the Chief stated calmly, holding out his forehoof. "It's only a temporary reassignment, while we wait for this dealer to make another mistake."

Sighing in relief, Judy replied, "Thank you Chief."

"Don't get too excited Hopps. This kind of thing could take months, or longer, for any concrete evidence to turn up. Just sit tight and let the criminals make the next move."

"I can't just sit still and wait."

The buffalo let out a deep breath that rumbled in his huge chest, "I know Hopps, which is why everyone at the precinct has been informed of this situation. That's over a hundred pair of eyes on the street looking for these dealers, so take a break and don't worry about it for a few days."

Her ears dropped, her head lowered and her eyes scanned the floor, searching for something that would change the larger mammal's mind.

"Now," Bogo said, stepping out of the doorway, and motioned the two smallest cops through the portal. "Since you have been at work for roughly 56 hours, I am willing to give you the rest of the day off."

Nick looked over at his partner with a question on his lips, but her eyes still explored the floor.

"Clawhouser got a break-in and possible robbery call about five minutes ago, that I think could help take your minds off this drug business. Unless, of course, you would rather spend the rest of the day doing paperwork?"

Bright light returned to her eyes, and the bunny cop looked up at her boss, "We will take the case Chief." With the hot cup of coffee in her paw, she grabbed her partners tie, rushed out of the room and up the stairs.

While walking through the lobby, a large uniformed tigress rushed up to Judy excitedly.

"Nick why don't you get the details from Ben, while I talk to Fangmeyer," the rabbit said to her partner, as the tigress swiftly closed the distance.

"Good luck," the fox said snidely, heading to the front desk.

Kneeling down, the giant tigress still towered over the tiny rabbit. In a more savage era, Judy would have hardly been a light snack. However, in this modern, sophisticated world, Fangmeyer didn't even show her fangs while she spoke. "Some of the girls and I are heading to McGregor's after work tonight, if you want to join us."

"Sure, I could really use a break from this place."

"I heard you've been here for days. This place can really wear on you sometimes. Meet us there at 7:00, ok?" The taller officer stood and started to walk away, but turned around with an afterthought. "Oh, and bring that partner of yours if you want."

"Alright, I'll do that."

"Be seeing ya," Fangmeyer saluted.

"See ya tonight."

* * *

A large grey stone block sat on the side of a small, grassy hill. Several words were mounted on its surface. The words were partially obscured by a young oak tree, but Judy could still make out what they said as she drove past. "Pembroke Family Planning Clinic & Reproductive Research Center"

Pulling their large police cruiser into the parking lot, Judy spotted an ibex walking across the pavement near the other side of the building. He was dressed in a sharp, tweed jacket under a long, white lab coat, and he seemed to be extremely upset. With a huff, he climbed into a mid sized, black and green SUV, and slammed the door.

Pointing towards the goat, she asked her partner, "Does that mammal look familiar?"

Looking up from the bird tossing game on his phone, Nick asked, "What mammal?"

"The mountain goat over there. In that SUV."

Her partner shook his head negatively.

Judy slowly circled the lot, until she passed the other vehicle, and Nick was able to get a closer look at the driver.

"I guess, kind of," he said with a shrug. "But we've been staring at pictures of goats all night, Or don't you remember?"

"You're right. I must be imagining things again."

She parked the car near the main entrance, and they both climbed out. Nick followed her into the bright and cheerfully decorated lobby.

The lobby was painted in bright, inviting colors, with a child's play area fondly placed in one corner. It reminded Nick of a familiar dentist's office where his mom used to take him. The memories of what happened behind those cheerful doors made him shudder.

Judy walked up to the tall counter where a pair of cervide nurses sat discussing an upcoming baby shower. "Officers Hopps and Wilde responding to the call about a break in," she announced.

Like sloths at the DMV, the two nurses were not quick to cease their conversation and respond to the uniformed rabbit. One of them eventually took a breath and addressed the bunny. "Oh, of course. I will let someone know you are here." Casually pointing to the large, and barely comfortable looking seats along the wall, she added, "Please wait over there and someone will be here shortly to take you back."

The rabbit's polite response belied her frustration at being treated like unwanted patients, "Thank you, you're too kind." Before joining Nick in the empty waiting area, she picked up one of the brochures on the counter.

"Nick! Nick, do you recognise this?" She flashed the advertising pamphlet in front of his lazy eyes.

"I don't know, Carrots. Give it to me for a second." He quickly snatched it out of her paws before she could protest, and flipped through the pages. After a brief but thoughtful examination he began to carefully tear it into small pieces.

It took her a second to realize what he was doing, and she tried to grab the pieces from his paws before he could completely ruin the fancy brochure, "What do you think you are doing?" He held the scraps of paper up high, and out of her reach as he continued to precisely tear each one into smaller bits.

"I think you're right Fluff," the fox said turning the small scraps over in his paws. "These look exactly like the papers we found in the Fishers' bedroom!"

"You didn't have to go and shred them like that, Dumb Fox."

"I did," he nodded, giving her a sly wink. "I just couldn't remember where I saw them before. But now it's as clear as last week's carrot stew."

The memory of Nick's impromptu attempt to cook dinner made her giggle, "Do you think the couple might have come here?"

"I don't know, Carrots. It's not like we can just go up to the counter and ask if a Bobcat and Beaver couple ever came here."

Judy was about to protest, when an older honey badger walked up to them and offered them her paw, "Officers, I am Doctor Bernese. The director asked me to show you to Doctor Walia's office."

"Doctor Walia?" the rabbit asked.

"Yes, his office is where the break-in happened," Dr. Bernese said as she swiped her ID badge in front of the secure door, and it beeped in response. She led the two officers through the door and down the long hallways that made up most of the facility.

"Is the doctor here today?"

"Unfortunately, you just missed him. He left rather abruptly," the badger replied sadly, taking them around several corners.

Judy's voice was full of concern when she asked, "What happened? Why did he leave?"

"I am not quite sure. He became very distraught over some broken personal items, and torn photos." Walking down another well lit hallway, she motioned to one of the open doors, "And here we are," she announced.

The rabbit's jaw dropped to the floor at the familiar scene of destruction before them.

Office furniture was smashed and tossed about the room. Papers were torn into long thin strips and strewn across the desk, and the computer monitor was cracked and smashed. Several scratches and dents marred the top and sides of the oak desk.

Judy immediately began photographing everything as she explored the room.

"The director said you can look around, but if you have any questions she will be along once she has finished her work."

"Thank you," the fox replied. "I think we have all we need for the moment."

"Alright. If you need anything, I will be right down the hall," the badger pointed to one of the doors across the hall, and then left.

"Nick, I think they came in through the window," Judy exclaimed, pointing to the shards of broken glass on the floor, and the few large pieces still stuck in the window frame.

"Yeah, all the glass is on the inside, and none in the grass outside," he said carefully looking out the broken window.

"And more glass on the desk," she said, using a pen she found to rifle through the debris. "It's from a fancy picture frame. And these look like parts of a photo."

Several pieces of the shredded paper looked like they had once been a photograph, and the rabbit began to arrange a few of them together.

"They look like a happy couple," Nick commented, parting her tall ears and sticking his long snout between them.

"Hey," Judy cried, jabbing him in the gut. "That is the goat we saw in the parking lot!"

"Dr. Walia, I presume?"

"There are some words on the back too. All I can make out looks like 'Wil', 'Cin' and the number '14.'"

"William and Cindy, maybe?"

"Yeah, or Cinnamon."

"Here is another picture of the female," Nick noted picking up a tiny heart shaped photo off the floor.

The rabbit turned to her partner, after sealing the photos into a plastic bag, and asked, "Have you seen any fur or odd marks in the carpet?"

Shaking his head he replied, "Well there is goat fur everywhere, and the prints in the carpet look like there was a scuffle. But that could just be from whoever smashed the chairs. They seem to have danced around the room with them first before they beat them repeatedly against the desk."

Under the desk, Judy stumbled across the only thing in the doctor's office that didn't have a single scratch. Pulling out a thatch waste basket, with a delicate plastic liner, she began rifling through its contents. After a few seconds she carefully lifted an empty metal can, marked with the word 'Hogswiser' on the side, while trying not to touch it with her bare paws.

Watching the rabbit closely examine the beer can, Nick snidely commented, "You know, you probably won't find any fingerprints on it."

"Har har."

"Most hooved mammals don't leave any distinguishable prints. That's why the ZPD gave up fingerprinting suspects all those years ago."

"I know, and neither do rabbits, because of our fur covered paws," she said holding up her fluffy fingers.

"Same with foxes."

"What, you have paw pads don't you? They should leave recognizable marks?"

"I hear all bunny noses leave unique marks though."

Judy snapped her fingers at her partner, as if an idea was on the tip of her tongue, "Nick! Your nose. What can you smell?"

"You know, I am not really trained for scent tracking, like Wolfard and Snarlov are."

"Just give it a shot, Slick. Anything could be useful at this point."

Conceding to the bunny's request, the fox began to inhale deeply through his long snout, and slowly moved around the room. He sniffed at the window, the chairs and even the trash can. "It's very faint, and lacks the strong odor of an abandoned building, but there is something here, that reminds me of that place we thought was the drug lab."

"Wait, are you saying that our drug dealer was here?"

"I am not sure, Fluff. But something is definitely familiar," he said continuing to smell around the room. His nosing about eventually let him to the other mammal in the room.

The rabbit giggled as the long snuffling nose landed on her shoulder, and took a long deep breath. Swatting the snout away, she exclaimed, "Stop it, Nick."

A look of disappointment crossed his muzzle, and he frowned at the rabbit officer, "Why did you change your perfume?"

"What do you mean? I didn't change anything," she asked, puzzled by her partners response.

"I just really liked the scent you wore before."

"I'm not wearing any perfume," Judy thought. She then placed her paw on the end of his nose and explained, "Trust me, I haven't changed anything."

Heading towards the door, Nick remarked, "Maybe we should find that director and get some answers."

Nodding her head, she skipped out the door, and hopped down the hall to the badgers office, "We have finished our preliminary investigation, but I have a quick question for you."

Looking up from her work, the badger smiled at the rabbit, "Sure what can I do for you?"

"Since you are right across the hall, I am curious. How well did you know Dr. Walia?"

"I only knew him as a co-worker. I don't think he really socialized with anyone, and I have never seen him at any company picnics."

Judy held up the photo of the female goat, "Do you know who this is?"

"Cindy?" the badger's smile dropped slightly. "That's his wife. I never met her. She died a few years before I transferred here from Zootopia General."

"Oh, I'm very sorry," the rabbit said with a small tear.

"It's ok. Like I said, I never knew her, or William either, before the incident."

Stepping up to his partner, the fox placed his paw on her shoulder, "Sorry for interrupting, but we really need to speak with the director."

"Right, I'm sorry," the badger said, standing up and walking past them into the hallway. "She is on the other side of the complex, so I hope you two don't mind the walk."

* * *

The badger led the two small cops down a long white hallway, to a tall window that nearly covered the entire length of the passage. She walked up to the glass, and pressed a small button on the wall. Judy's large ears could barely make out a very faint buzz from the other side of the window.

"The director expressly asked that no one disturb her during this delicate procedure, but you're welcome to watch." Nodding to the pair of cops, she promptly turned and left the way they had come.

On the other side of the glass was a large clean lab full of wires, tubes, microscopes and various other unfamiliar equipment. Some of the equipment looked similar to what they found last year in the subway train, but it was all far more precise and complicated.

In the center of the lab stood two medium mammals wearing long, white lab coats. They were each standing on opposite sides of a large glass box. The doctors were reaching through arm sized holes in the sides of the box, and manipulating delicate instruments through thick black gloves.

Nick and Judy could not hear what they were saying, or read any lips through their surgical masks, but they seemed to work quite well together. Their movements were very precise and careful, like some slow and gracefully choreographed dance.

Closest to the large viewing window was a tall, skinny, female canid with a strange pattern of mottled brown, black, and gray splotches on her small head. One of her pointy multicolored ears had a long tuft sticking out from the tip, and they barely twitched as her paws made slow precise motions inside the clear box. She also had a long straight, and somewhat scraggly looking tail, that was a solid light brown color, except for a black patch near the base, and a tiny white tip. Except for the odd fur coloring, Judy thought she looked like a coyote. But the oddest part of this unidentifiable canid was that her large flat hind paws were made of a burnished bronze metal.

On the opposite side of the laboratory box was a middle aged and muscular, striped jackal, who had fully come into his summer coat. Judy noticed that what little she could see of his tail looked similar to the one on the other doctor. His intense gaze focused on each careful move the younger doctor made. He nodded occasionally whenever she pointed at a container or handed him one of the petri dishes they were working with.

After about twenty minutes of agonizingly slow and precise maneuvers, the pair of canidae placed four of the small clear dishes into a hatch waiting on the far end of the glass box. The jackal closed and locked the hatch while the multicolored coyote freed her small paws. She walked around the metal box, turned a few dials and flipped a couple of switches.

As she gestured to the jackal, he joined her with a clipboard in hand, and began jotting down notes while closely examining the dials and switches.

Once she was satisfied everything was in order, she walked along the glass wall and through a sliding door, into a strange oversized shower. The door slid silently behind her, and she was quickly surrounded by clouds of white mist spraying from the walls, ceiling and floor. Raising her arms above her head, she turned around three times inside the misty shower.

Mounted high on the wall, adjacent to the strange shower, a large red light turned bright green once all the white mist had vanished into the floor. A door that the smaller mammals hadn't noticed earlier, opened in the glass wall, allowing the doctor to enter the hallway where the ZPD officers waited.

Removing the surgical mask from her thick, broad muzzle she greeted her uniformed guests, "Hello officers. I am Doctor Pembroke. The Director of this facility." She didn't bend at the knees so much as appeared to shrink, in order to shake Judy's paw. "Please, let's speak in my office," she said leading them back down the sterile hall they had arrived through.

Turning a couple of corners, the doctor led them to a large cozy office with a crystal glass desk, and faux leather seats.

Judy caught her breath looking out a window large enough to see the lush hospital grounds, and an amazing view of the city.

"How do you like our quaint little facility so far?" the splotched doctor asked. She walked over to the far side of the desk, and stood next a large black executive chair. When she was close enough to sit in the chair she unbuttoned her white coat at the waste, revealing a pair of large metallic, prosthetic legs, that she was slowly sinking into.

"This place is really amazing," Judy exclaimed, skipping around to the front side of the large clear desk, and sat next to her partner. "What is it you do here exactly?"

The doctor's shrinkage suddenly stopped with an audible click, leaving her standing slightly taller than Nick. Pressing a button on the side of the artificial hips, her legs opened to reveal two tiny shriveled stumps, where her real legs should have been. With one deft motion, she grabbed the arm of the chair and swung her body around, to land in the comfortable seat with a loud whump. The pair of metal legs remained standing in place.

Scooting the chair up to the desk, she folded her paws together, leaned forward and answered Judy's question, "We help couples who are struggling to have a family of their own."

"Really," Nick scoffed.

"Yes, I know it's hard to believe, Officers," she motioned vaguely. "The other side of the building is generally set up for patient consultations, and handling your typical fertility issues." Pointing to herself, and then to the hall outside, she continued, "While my staff and I, handle research into some more exotic methods."

"Exotic methods?" the fox asked.

"Well, what you saw Charles and I working on earlier, was a treatment that we hope will someday allow a larger diversity of mammals to have healthy offspring."

Judy's ear's lifted, turning towards the doctor and her nose twitched, "Wait, I don't quite follow what you mean."

"I take it you're not familiar with the current possibilities for cross breeding in Zootopia?"

The rabbit only shook her head.

"Ok, Let me try and explain," the splotchy hybrid leaned over the large desk. "As it stands, only very closely related species can mate successfully, and produce healthy, fertile offspring."

"Oh, like rabbits and hares?" her eyes lit up.

"Yes. Most of the rabbits and hares in Bunny Burrow, are able to cross breed, however there are three other species of lagomorphs in Zootopia that cannot. And if an offspring were produced from such a paring, that kit would undoubtedly be sterile."

"Growing up in the country, I have never heard of anything like that."

"And even more diverse couples could not even hope to have a chance. Their genomes are just too different."

Sitting up straight, with his ears pointed at the ceiling, Nick had to ask, "But I take it you have found a way?"

"Not exactly," Dr. Pembroke lowered her head slightly. "Two astounding doctors stumbled across a breakthrough, that allowed them to mix two disparate genomes."

"That sounds amazing!" the rabbit exclaimed, standing up on her chair.

"It's too bad that we have not been able to improve on their discovery in the last thirty six years."

"Why, what happened?"

The coyote held her breath for a second, and let a large tear roll down her gray muzzle, "Unfortunately, before they were able to improve the design, there was a fatal accident, and they were taken away from us."

Climbing up onto the desk, Judy put her paw on top of the sad doctor's folded ones, "We're very sorry for your loss."

Nick stood up and lifted the wooden name plate on the doctor's desk, "I don't mean to interrupt this tender moment, but I've got a question that's been nagging at me."

Pulling her paws away from the rabbit, the doctor replied, "Sure, what is it?"

"The name on your desk, and the one on the side of the building are the same, 'Pembroke.' Is this your hospital?"

A faint light returned to her eyes, and the mottled mammal let go of a small chuckle, "No. It's named for the two mammals who discovered how to mix genomes."

With his paw on his chin he nodded, "Ah, I see."

The sadness returned to her muzzle, "They were my parents, Doctor's Byrone and Katherine Pembroke."

"So you said they discovered some kind of miracle?" the fox asked.

"No, not a miracle," Dr. Pembroke tried to explain. "What they found was a disease from the jungles. One that has a curious habit of copying an animal's DNA from one host to another."

"Wait. What does that mean," the confused rabbit asked.

"Um, let me see if I can simplify it for you," the doctor reached into a desk drawer, and pulled out a very colorful drawing of two very different double helix strands, with several hexagon shaped spiked balls between them.

"Well you see here, this virus, " she pointed to the spiky balls, "took some of the stray DNA from my father, and copied it onto my mother. And that is what allowed her to become pregnant."

The rabbit jumped up in her chair, pointed at the doctor's picture, and exclaimed to her partner, "Hey aren't those the same things we saw in the ZPD lab last week?"

"I don't know Carrots. I left the room when the mouse said the word virus, remember?"

Putting the picture down, the doctor replied, "I would not be surprised, most viruses look nearly identical under a microscope."

"Oh," the rabbit sat back down disheartened. "I thought we were onto something here."

"I wouldn't know how to help you with any other kind of viruses. We always keep our medications under very controlled situations."

The fox patted his partner's paw gently, "That's ok. Officer Hopps here has been overworking herself trying to find an illegal drug dealer, but so far he has continued to elude us."

"I'm sorry. I hope you catch him," the doctor said with reassurance. "Well, to make a long story short, it took many years before they found a way to keep a fetus alive for the full term. And thus here I am sitting before you today."

Nodding his head in false agreement, the fox implored, "Yes, that is a lovely story. But it still doesn't explain the name on the sign outside."

"You're quite right," she said sadly. "Both of my parents came from a long line of doctors, and were quite well off. After I was born, they commissioned for this facility to be built, in order that they could continue their research. But they never lived to see its completion."

The rabbit sighed, wiping away tears from both eyes.

"When I was about seven, we were coming home from the theater, when there was an accident."

"Oh, no!" Judy put both paws over her muzzle to cover her widely open mouth, and Nick lowered his gaze.

"I really don't remember any of it. They tell me it was a drunk mammal, driving a much larger truck, that hit the side of our car, crushing the entire front half and killing them instantly. And both my legs were crushed," the doctor said, barely hiding her anger.

The shock did not leave the muzzles of either of the small cops. In their brief time as patrol officers, they had never seen, nor heard of anything so devastating.

"That all sounds so awful," Judy sniffed.

"It's alright. With a lot of help, I was able to grow up, and follow in my parents pawsteps. And now I am in a position to best help the mammals of this city to achieve their dreams." With her story complete, the coyote hybrid stood, and climbed back into her waiting prosthetics.

Once the legs were locked into position, she walked to the door of her large office, and asked the two officers, "Would you like a short tour of the rest of our lovely facility?"

Standing in her chair to follow, Judy happened to glance back at the director's chair, and noticed a small patch of skin, and fur laying in the middle of the cushion. It had a scraggly mix of light brown and gray fur.

Making a mental note of the fallen patch, she turned to follow Nick and Dr. Pembroke out of the room.

Taking the pair of small cops back down the hall with the long glass window, the coyote doctor explained, "This is our drugs and biolab. We are currently working on a new experiment that should help more equine species."

Nick looked on thoughtfully, "Are all of your treatments so specific?"

"Usually, yes. Most of what we do in this lab is intended for very specific couples."

Judy's eyes lit up and she raised her paw to speak, "Do you happen to know a bobcat and beaver couple?"

Putting her paw to her chin, the doctor replied slowly, "No I can't say that I do. And if I did, I would not be able to say anything." Neither Nick or Judy caught the slight flicker of her tufted ear.

"Oh, right, sorry. Forget I asked."

Walking around a corner from the biolab lab, they came across another room filled with a single monstrous series of machines. They seemed to be processing and transporting hundreds of white pills in circles around the room. A large silver bin was where Judy suspected the stream of pills originated. As they traveled along several belts they eventually landed in what reminded Judy of a the cloths dryer back in her apartment. After being spun around in three more of these dryer like bins, the pills finally landed on long sheets of plastic. Each one finally coming to rest on the sheets in their own clear bubbles.

Dr. Pembroke stopped and waved casually at the large room, "And this is our custom pill production line."

"You produce your own medications here?" Nick asked the doctor.

"Of course. It is difficult to transport the live cultures to a larger production facility, so we have to produce any specialized treatments on site."

Shivering Judy asked, "So all those pills contain a virus?"

Chuckling the doctor replied, "Oh, no. That is a batch of hormone supplements for more general use."

Turning his head to glance around the large room suspiciously, the fox spotted a small mammal scurry in the distance behind the machine. It was wearing a tiny white lab coat and holding a rather large wrench in both paws.

Thinking nothing of the mechanic, as it disappeared into the inner workings of the machine, Nick let the doctor continue.

"Those batches are designed specifically for each patient, so we only make a few dozen at a time."

Returning his attention to the taller coyote, he asked, "And what happens if you have a bad batch?"

"Unfortunately that does happen sometimes, and we also ask that the patients return all leftovers when the treatment works," Dr. Pembroke twitched her tufted ear, and added cautiously. "When that happens we have an incinerator down stairs specifically for that kind of disposal. We are required by federal law to destroy all discarded medications."

Nick added her response to his mental filing cabinet. It was already overflowing with random and useless information, but he still found a clean folder to stash away the doctor's answer. "That is interesting."

With a swish of her long coat she lead them down the hall to the shiny elevators, "Shall we continue?"

Back in the more cheerfully painted section of the clinic the doctor motioned down one of the winding hallways, "And this section is where the family doctors live. We hold consultations that determine how best to help each family with their specific needs. This is also where the break-in occurred."

Coughing, Nick stepped forward, "Yes that is the main reason we came to talk to you. What can you tell us about the break-in?"

"Um, well what I do know is that it probably happened sometime in the middle of the night or early this morning."

"What makes you suspect that?"

"One, Charles and I were working late last night and we neither heard nor saw anything. The security guards also said everything was clear before we left."

"Ok, that is interesting," Judy noted.

"The first I heard anything about it was when William called me this morning to report that his office was destroyed."

Judy held up the shredded photos to the coyote pointing to the female goat, "Who is this?"

The coyote's response was immediate, "Cindy is Dr. Walia's ex-wife. It's a shame that photo got so torn up. She really was a lovely mammal."

"Can you tell us what happened to her?"

"I don't know," she said with a mild tone of irritation. "What does this have to do with the break in?"

"Well, we found the broken picture frame and these torn bits of what looks like a family photo. We are just trying to gather all the pieces of this puzzle. So if you could please just indulge us for a moment."

With a sigh the clinic's director agreed, "Alright."

"Director, can you tell us what happened to this happy couple?" Judy asked, once again holding up the torn bits of photograph. "Please, try to think."

"Oh, I remember it quite clearly."

"Go on."

"He came in one day, screaming and cursing, just like he was today. I had to send him home before he upset our patients."

"Is that why he left today? You sent him home?"

"Yes," she said. "He is normally a very calm and friendly mammal. The only time I saw him this out of control was that day she left him."

His ears perked up and Nick asked excitedly, "She left him? Why, how?"

"What? Oh, um," the coyote held her chin for a second before continuing. "I only picked up on bits and pieces from William during our conversations later, but what I gathered was that she left him for some sheep."

"A sheep?" the fox asked.

"Yeah, he was starting some kind of anti-pred movement, and it seems she cared more about this movement than she did for her husband."

"Wow, that's tragic," the bunny said.

"About a week later, William returned to work a changed mammal. After that, he was totally focused on his work. He hardly socialises anymore or spends anytime with his co-workers, it's always about the job, with little time for anything else."

Nick reached out to shake the doctors paw, "Thanks for all your help. And the tour really has been lovely."

The rabbit also shook her paw, "Do you know where we can find Dr. Walia right now. We would really like to speak with him if we can."

"Sure, I can give you his address, but I wouldn't recommend speaking to him in his current state. You're welcome to come back tomorrow."

"That's alright, but I think we will try to contact him while the memory of the incident is still fresh."

"Suit yourself," the coyote shrugged. "If you come back to my office I can give you his address."

"Thanks, that would be so much help."

With the ibex's information in paw they climbed back into their cruiser. Nick quickly entered the address into the GPS tracker as Judy started the engine, and pulled the car onto the street.

A half an hour later they were standing at Dr. Walia's front door. There was no response to the doorbell or Judy's standard police announcement.

"Break in the door?" She asked her partner.

"Sans warrant, remember? And no probable cause this time."

"Right, let's look around then. Maybe catch an open window or something."

They split up taking different sides of the house. Walking around towards the right side, Nick noticed a wet spot in the driveway, "Carrots, come here."

Judy walked over to her partner as he knelt down and drew his finger through a small puddle of green liquid. "What did you find?"

Lifting his wet finger to his nose he sniffed, scrunched his nose and squinted in mild pain, "Fresh antifreeze. And in this heat I'd say no more than a half hour old."

"Someone was here recently?"

"Yeah, and left in a hurry by the looks of those skid marks in the street."

"Do you think someone warned him that we were on the way?"

"Maybe," he said standing up. "This whole thing has got me really confused."

"The badger across the hall," she snapped her fingers.

"Don't be too quick to jump to conclusions. Do you remember what happened the last time you did that?"

"Yeah," her ears dropped and she lowered her head sadly. "I nearly lost you, and sent the whole city into chaos."

Nick walked up to the his partner and gave her a careful hug, "You rabbits, so emotional."

Punching his chest at his comment, she replied, "Dumb Fox."

"Well, without knowing where he went, I guess all we can do is head back to the office."

"I really hate writing all these dead end reports for Bogo."

"I feel you there, Carrots."

With their heads low they sedately climbed back into their cruiser, and drove back to the ZPD office.

* * *

The faint scent of minty cigars that permeated the old fashioned bar, strongly contrasted with the upbeat, and poorly sung music wafting from the recently constructed stage. The tables were all a dark glassy brown, while the mismatched chairs had some form of faux leather cushions or none at all. A long black bar covered the entire length of one wall, showing off a meager collection of cheap yet potent spirits. All the wooden surfaces seemed to ooze with the smell of alcohol and cigars.

A large flat television hung lopsided on the wall at one end of the bar. On it's screen was last weekend's Tuskball game, while the two announcers debated over each of their favorite team's worst mistakes.

On the crude stage opposite the bar, was a worn out karaoke machine, with a young moose holding the microphone. He had not yet fully come into his antlers but still had to duck often to avoid clipping the low hung rafters. The moose was currently mangling a popular song by Trace Antlerson. On top of being very drunk, he had the wrong accent and could not hit any of the right notes during the chorus.

Judy had to cover her ears in pain as she walked through the door. She was dressed in a pink plaid flannel shirt, and a pair of tight cut off jeans. Looking around the bar she spotted Fangmeyer and the other lady cops sitting at one table near the stage, but she did not immediately approach. Instead she marched back out the door and returned a moment latter hauling a long, blue striped tie attached to the neck of a disheveled fox, who was wearing a flowery green shirt.

The fox wrinkled his nose at the strong smells inside the bar, but hardly resisted the even stronger rabbit pulling on his tie. He was intently staring at something on his phone and barely noticed his surroundings.

Hauling her fox past a few lightly occupied tables she greeted her coworkers, "Hey, everyone. I didn't realize this was a karaoke bar." She plopped her well rounded behind on the last remaining chair at the table.

"Yeah, it's a recent addition," Tina Growleth declared, chugging on a large mug of very dark and foamy beer. Tina was one of the smaller brown bears at the ZPD who worked in the mammalicide department.

"That's why we're here," a muscular cheetah replied. Judy could not remember the cheetah's name but she thought the mammal was a detective for the narcotics division.

A giant tiger added with a noticeable slur, "Yep, it's our sworn duty *hic* to make sure all the karaoke equipment in the city *hic* meets acceptable standards." With her failed attempt at a salute it was obvious that Fangmeyer was already drunk.

Nick finally looked up from his phone and saw the tiger next to him, "Oh, hey Fangs." With no chairs left at table where his partner sat, he looked around for one to snag. He spotted one empty seat a the nearest table. Reaching to grab the chair he noticed that more of his fellow officers were already seated around that table so he decided to join them instead and sat next to Wolfard.

Nodding to the lion across the table Nick acknowledged, "Sup cat." He then nodded to the other large mammals around the table, "Krumpansky, Simmers. What's up with this place today? Isn't this usually a 'sports' bar?"

Jackson spoke up to answer the fox's question, "Chuckles, their bookie, is sitting in the pen again."

With a tone of false astonishment, Nick asked, "Really, what's he in for?"

"Stealing a statue from the Natural History Museum," the lion again replied over his tall glass of whiskey and coke.

Simmers finally spoke, after setting down a glass filled with ice surrounded by a crystal clear liquid, "About a week after Delgato hauled off that sleazy wolverine, the owner tore down all the TVs and built this crap for a karaoke stage."

"And of course Fangmeyer had to proclaim that we officially inspect the equipment," the rhino sitting next to Nick chuckled.

Judy had to strain her neck to look up at the tigress sitting next to her, "What do you mean it's our duty?"

The tigress struggled to uncross her eyes looking down at the small rabbit. "We are *hic* the ZPD's official Karaoke Club," She said pounding a clawed fist on her chest."

"A karaoke club?" the smallest officer inquired. "Just the three of you?"

"Oh no," the tough looking cheetah declared. "The guys at the next table are in it too."

"Trunkaby, and Stevens too." Tina added. "They couldn't make it tonight."

"Don't you mean they couldn't fit *hic* fit through that tiny door," Fangmeyer slurred, and everyone else laughed. After taking a few more sips on her fruity cocktail she added, "So Hopps *hic*, do you want to join our little club?"

At that moment the server showed up to check on the table. She noted the refills for everyone and took Judy's order for a spiced carrot vodka.

The night progressed, as they usually do, with the ladies chatting about about work, and life, and vacation plans. With her first drink nearly finished the rabbit started feeling warm inside and easily opened up to her new friends. She chatted about her old life on the farm and the things she would like to see in the city.

Even with everything else she had to talk about, the one subject that she kept bringing up was her partner. It seemed like she had to add his thoughts, or snide comments to every story or joke she told. The other ladies at the table never really mentioned how often she brought up his name.

After about an hour of drinking and chatting, Growleth excused herself to the restroom. Her chair was almost immediately taken by a suave red fox. "Hey ladies, whatcha all talking about over here?"

With a swift punch to the shoulder Judy gave him a shrewd response, "We were just talking about why renards make such terrible cops."

"Based on what evidence, Carrots?" he queried leaning against her.

Nearly falling out of her chair the rabbit hiccuped and took another sip of her thick carrot cocktail, "Because, my dear, dear, friend. I just happened to watch a fox cop who failed to catch a fleeing goat suspect who was right in front of him."

Green eyes met lavender while the fox continued to defend himself, "No pictures, or it didn't happen, Fluff." He held out his dark paw expecting some solid evidence to magically appear.

"And what about the time you took that detour through the canal district, hmmm?" the rabbit accused, pointing her pink nose at her partner's black one.

"How was I supposed to know that bridge had washed out?" The fox put his paws in the air in submission. "It's all circumstantial anyways. And besides, they managed to get most of the water out of our cruiser, so it's all good in the end."

Fangmeyer and the cheetah both let out a roaring laugh, slapping each other on the back at Nick's flamboyant excuses. Mid laugh the server dropped off another round in front of the cheetah, who gave her a puzzled look. The server just turned and nodded her head towards a tall mountain lion sitting at the bar who had been eyeing their table all night.

The tigress gave her cheetah friend a heavy shove, and the rabbit said reassuringly, "Go talk to him."

"Oh, I don't know."

"Is the big kitty scared?"

"No," she cried putting her fist on the table.

"Well if he says or does anything offensive we can just cuff him and lock him in the tank overnight."

"Fine," and with that she stood and casually sauntered up to the bar leaving the drink untouched on the table.

Giggling, the two female cops cheered and waved to their friend.

With in minutes, a large gray wolf sat down in the vacant chair, and scooted it closer to the tigress. "And how is the ZPD's sexiest feline doing tonight?"

"Wolfard, you old dog," Fangmeyer slurred with a slightly groggy snort.

The wolf looked dejected, "I'm not that old, and you know it. I can still keep up with you anyday."

"Oh really," the tigress exclaimed with a belly laugh. "Is passing out after *hic* the third round, what you call 'Keeping Up?'"

"A full day of beach volleyball will do that to a mammal."

"As I recall, my team beat yours in that tournament."

"I'm pretty sure it was the other way around Kitty," the wolf noted leaning back in the chair.

"Care to put your money where your snout is, Pup?" she challenged.

"You're on!" Wolfard exclaimed slamming a twenty down on the table between them and headed towards the stage. The tigress placed a second twenty on top of his and followed him.

Judy was too engaged with a shining pair of green eyes, to notice that Fangmeyer was holding Wolfard's paw as they marched onto the stage. She couldn't take her eyes off the fox, until the other mismatched pair had chosen a song and started to sing.

They had chosen a recent upbeat pop song, that wasn't exactly written for a duet, but they traded off parts like it was some kind of competition. Each one trying to outdo the other. But when they reached the chorus, their voices joined together. His alto blended together with her tenor to create a deep harmony.

"That is really lovely?" Judy said with raised ears, before turning to her partner. "Don't you think?"

Caught up in his own thoughts he didn't even twitch an ear in response.

Her brows furrowed and she gave him a shove, "Nick?"

Nick looked up at the stag,e and the two mammal's impromptu singing, "Yeah, I guess."

"What, you think you could do better?"

He just shrugged and took a sip from the dark cocktail in front of him.

The tigress and wolf duo sang a few more songs before they returned to the table. "You're up next Bunnykins," Fangmeyer exclaimed.

"What!?" Judy cried.

"If you want to join our little club *hic* you have to get up on stage." the tiger pointed out. "It wouldn't be much of a karaoke club *hic* if we didn't show off what terrible singer's we are. So get those tiny feet up on stage *hic* and pick a song. Or is the little bunny too scared?"

Fierce determination took over her face. Her eyes narrowed, and her ears stood up straight, as she climbed to her feet in the oversized chair. She downed the whole glass of carrot vodka in one gulp, and grabbed Nick's tie again to haul him onto the stage.

"Wait, what are you doing Carrots?" the fox cried, as the strong bunny dragged him across the bar. Wolfard and Fangmeyer laughing at the small mammal's abuse of her partner.

"If I have to make fun of myself, then you are going to join me," she exclaimed.

Flipping through the machine's menu she settled on a song titled, 'Hips Don't Lie,' and stepped up to the microphone. Before the song started to play Nick stopped the machine and picked a different song.

When the opening beats started to play, Judy was shocked by the old classic from Guns and Rodents. She rarely told anyone, but Night Rain was one of her favorites from that band, and she knew all the words.

As familiar as she was with their music, the fox was far better. She could barely keep up with his perfect timing and inflections. His air guitar moves were unbeatable, and she was convinced he was reenacting their '96 concert performance.

Halfway through the song, the alcohol hit her hard and the room began to spin. Her words weren't just slurred they were completely wrong.

"I'm on the fox train. All night long," she sang with a distinct slur.

When the song was over, she tried to head back to their table, but the room lurched near the edge of the stage, and she found herself caught in some strange fox's arms.

Nick jumped to catch the drunk rabbit, as she plummeted off the stage. "How much did you have to drink?" he ask.

The rabbit in his arms just burped, drooled, and giggled at herself.

"When was the last time you ate anything?"

She mumbled something incomprehensible about burrows and kits.

Helping her walk back to their table he left a tip for the server, and then spoke to the stumbling rabbit, "We should get you some fresh air."

"Where did the big tiger and her puppy go?"

"I don't know," he said, looking around the bar.

Stumbling outside, Nick saw that it was after midnight, "Maybe we should get you home instead."

"Take me to your chiefdom," the rabbit slurred loudly, taking a step across the sidewalk but only fell down instead.

Quickly catching her paw he prevented her from planting her soft muzzle into the hard cement, "You need some time to walk this off, and my place is much closer." With the rabbit held close he turned them around to stumble together down the street in the opposite direction.

After roughly thirty minutes of half stumbling, half walking, Nick's apartment building came into view and his own head had started to clear.

On the third step, up the stairs to the building, Judy suddenly stopped to stare lovingly at one of the tall bushes next to her.

"What are you doing Carrots, " she gave no response to his words or to him gently pulling on her paw. "A few more steps and we will be inside," he pleaded.

Suddenly she leaned over the railing and emptied her stomach into the bushes.

Nick stood beside the sick rabbit, with his paw on her back and let her finish. After a few more loud noisy groans she turned around to look at him. Her pink shirt had chunks of green and orange mess running down the front.

"I don't feel so good," she admitted.

"Plus you're a mess," he added. "We really should get you inside and cleaned up."

Lifting her into his arms, he carried her up the three flights of stairs to his apartment, while she continued to mumble about being able to walk on her own. Once inside, he left her in his bathroom to clean up, while he looked for a suitable change of clothes that would fit the smaller mammal.

The tod returned several minutes later with a tattered, and faded Guns and Rodents t-shirt in his paws. Knocking on the open door he saw that the little rabbit was still leaning over his toilet heaving. He waited for her to finish before stepping in and showing off the shirt he found.

"I know it's pretty old but it should fit you better than some of my newer shirts."

"Thanks," she nodded with a slur, and promptly pulled her own shirt over her small head.

Somehow she managed to remove her bra along with her shirt, and before Nick could protest, her jeans had also fallen to the floor. She stood there in his bathroom, completely in the fur, with nothing but a pair of bright orange panties.

If Nick had only been slightly more drunk, he would not have hesitated to take advantage of the indisposed rabbit. But the sight of the beautiful, naked rabbit sent a shock to his system that left him stunned for several minutes. Before he could recover his senses she had already grabbed the proffered shirt and was wriggling it over her head and around her fluffy petite body.

With the cloth covering her fur, she gently poked, him causing him to blink and stutter, "Nick. I'm really tired."

"R, right. Here, you can sleep on the couch," he quickly left the room, walking into his living room, where the long, comfortable furniture waited.

Following him into the larger room, she said his name again, "Nick."

Sitting on one end of the couch he patted a paw on the cushions next to him.

She slowly walked over to where he sat and said to him sadly, "I could use a hug."

Holding up his arms wide he let her climb into his lap. Before he could wrap his arms around her in a tight hug, the rabbit was snoring.

He sat there for an hour, with her sleeping in his lap, before he lifted her tiny body off of his numb legs. Placing her on the far end of the couch he watched her curl her arms around a pillow. Satisfied that she was sleeping peacefully, he left the couch for his own bed.

Hours later the bunny woke, shivering in the cold summer night. The room was so dark she could not see a thing, and she didn't remember where she was. But everything smelled familiar, like home, and she knew the burrow like the back of her paws. Climbing off the couch, she waddled down the hall looking for a blanket to take back to bed.

After a brief search in the next room, she found a soft, warm and very orange blanket. She wasn't sure what detergent her mom had used on these sheets, but the smell of the orange blanket made her feel very happy.

The rabbit wrapped the warm blanket around her tiny body, closed her eyes and was soon snoring with her tail wagging blissfully.

* * *

 **[AN] And here is another long one. This one took me much longer that I expected. I just could not get the words to come out and life kept interrupting :P**

 **I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. It's got alot of important details about what is really going on, and maybe some clues as to why.**

 **And for those who love hunting easter eggs I've added some fun movie references and some from a Zootopia Video game that I used to play on my phone. It's a shame the company went under and the game is no longer available :( However you can still watch playthroughs on YouTube.**

 **I want to give a big thanks to everyone who commented, especially imjustlikehumphery. All of the really amazing comments helped me get a better sense of where the story is going and how I can improve it.**

 **Thank you, all of my awesome readers,**

 **OneWolfe-**


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